Harmonic Symphony
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: A single event can change anyone's life. For Tsuna, it was finding a violin after being locked up in an abandoned music room. With no friends and no reason not to try, music quickly becomes his life, opening up new doors and some unexpected new allies. His life quickly begins to change long before a baby wearing a fedora appears to train him.
1. Chapter 1

Tsuna hated school, for multiple reasons. The chief being that he was always bullied and locked into rooms alone for hours. This time it was an abandoned music room.

Since he knew the odds of being found and rescued before dinner were very slim, he decided to explore the place. For once he was in a room with a window that still had some light coming through.

It was close to eight when he tripped on it. An old carrying case, which opens up to reveal a beautiful instrument and an odd stick.

He later learns it is called a violin.

Tsuna had never been good at anything. It was even in his name. Dame-Tsuna, which everyone called him, including the teachers.

But there is something about the wooden instrument that has his attention. It is so pretty it is almost a crime to pick it up, but it has clearly been left alone for a very long time.

Maybe, just maybe he could be good at _something_ for once.

So when he's finally able to leave, he makes a note of where the room was. He plans to retrieve the violin later, and learn how to play.

 _Two days later..._

It wasn't hard to find videos online explaining the basics of playing the violin.

What was hard is finding a music store that carried the right strings which were within his meager budget _and_ hide his new interest from both his mother and the bullies.

He loved his mother, but she was so absentminded sometimes.

Replacing the strings was a challenge, but he eventually figured it out. The bow at least looked like it was in descent condition.

He waited until his mother was out of the house for a few hours before he put the video on and tried practicing. It wasn't that hard, though he kept getting the finger positions mixed up. It was actually rather fun.

Once he managed to complete a full song (it was 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star') he felt a sense of accomplishment that was missing from his life. It wasn't much, but it was more than he had before.

He still couldn't make heads or tails out of sheet music though.

* * *

 _Tsuna, age 9_

It was getting harder and harder to hide his hobby. Apparently his habit of practicing in empty classrooms when most of the other kids had gone home had come back to 'haunt' him. There was now a persistent rumor of a ghost violinist in the school.

And the more supernaturally inclined kids wanted to find it.

He was about to start practicing when he heard something that chilled him to the bone.

"So you're the herbivore who's causing all the rumors about a ghost violinist. If you don't explain yourself I will bite you to death."

Tsuna turned to find... _Hibari-san?!_

Oh gods, he was so dead.

"I didn't start the rumors!" he said hurriedly, trying not to wave the bow around as a weapon or drop the violin.

Hibari narrowed his eyes at him.

"Then why have I been hearing multiple reports about violin music from abandoned classrooms after hours?" he demanded.

Tsuna blushed embarrassed.

"I didn't want anyone to hear me practicing, or have my mom find out about my hobby. And if I stay after school hours then the people most likely to mock me for it generally don't bother me," he said, not looking at the older boy.

Bullies were less inclined to stick around the school when there were teachers present, and he really didn't want to be mocked about playing badly.

Hibari narrowed his eyes at him.

"Why not join the music club or the orchestra club?"

"Again, I don't want to be mocked because I hit a wrong note," said Tsuna.

It had taken every bit of what little courage remained after years of being bullied to even start practicing the violin. He didn't want it shattered.

Besides, everyone knew him as "Dame-Tsuna". Someone who was so pathetic and worthless that it wasn't worth knowing him.

Hibari narrowed his eyes at him.

"Play something."

"Huh?"

"If you can prove to me you're actually practicing and not just goofing off, I won't bite you to death. But if you can't..."

He didn't need to clarify how _bad_ it would be for Tsuna if he couldn't play anything.

Tsuna gulped and prayed to the gods he didn't screw this up.

He put the bow to the strings and started playing. It was something he had only recently managed to get the hang of, and it was something a bit more...modern.

He was a huge fan of Lindsey Stirling.

(This is an actual violin artist who has a youtube channel. I'm a huge fan of several of her songs, like "Shatter Me", "Master of Tides", "Roundtable Rival", and "Shadows". I would totally recommend her music!)

Hibari said nothing throughout the entire song, but when it ended Tsuna was very, very nervous. He really didn't want to be bitten to death.

"Wao. You were acceptable, herbivore."

He almost let out a huge sigh of relief.

"However..."

Tsuna tensed.

"If you're planning on practicing where others can't tell who's playing, then do it on the roof. That way the sound will carry enough to confuse people as to where it's coming from," said Hibari.

That, and he happened to nap up there frequently enough that he wouldn't have to track down the timid herbivore a second time for an encore. His presence alone would dissuade the worst of the crowding.

"I'll keep that in mind, Hibari-san," said Tsuna with open relief. He wasn't going to be bitten to death.

Hibari left, making sure to close the door.

Tsuna debates on whether to keep practicing, but his internal warning system alerts him that others are coming.

He sighs and puts away his violin and bow, before making a discreet exit.

And by discreet, one would have to mean jumping out of the second story window into a nearby tree from din of long practice and managing to get down without crashing.

By this point, Tsuna has more or less mastered the art of the awkward and hasty escape. At least he didn't break his arm or get more than a few bumps and bruises anymore.

Hearing the voices, he sighed in relief. Today had been too hectic for his tastes, though he would have to find a place to hide until the worst offenders of his usual beatings went away. It was still too early for them to have given up on finding him and go home.

"Ahaha... why did you jump out of the window like that?"

Tsuna froze.

Come on, his luck could _not_ be THAT bad today!

He turned to find the baseball star Takeshi Yamamoto and hoped like hell the other boy didn't see the case.

"Last time I was in the room where the supposed music ghost is, I lost half my homework because they took out the fact they couldn't find it on me," he lied.

"Seriously?" asked Takeshi, surprised.

"Easier to hide from people who want to beat me up in the empty classrooms until everyone goes home than to walk and get beaten by someone other than Hibari-san," said Tsuna blithely.

Honestly, his mother never commented on how late he came home and just _assumed_ he was out with friends. She never even noticed all the bruises he had every month, or that most of his allowance was usually spent on basic medical supplies like bandages.

He is so used to being ignored, at being dismissed because he was "Dame-Tsuna", that he completely missed the look in Takeshi's eyes. Like he was putting several things together that he didn't like one bit.

What Tsuna doesn't know was that Takeshi had overheard several of the repeat offenders who took particular amusement in beating them up and had dismissed them as making wild claims. That they were just talking trash.

Seeing the resigned and almost broken eyes of a boy he only barely registered as being in his class more than once, Takeshi realizes the painful truth.

The boys weren't just shooting the breeze when they spoke of hunting down the smaller, more fragile boy. They were reminiscing about how much pain they had caused the poor kid.

It had gotten to the point that Tsuna was hiding in the school until well after the clubs let out for the day just to avoid them.

Takeshi had to wonder exactly why his parents hadn't put a stop to this sort of thing already. If Tsuna was so desperate to avoid people that he had learned how to jump out of a window into nearby trees, then surely someone should have said something about it by now?

"Want me to walk you home?" he asked.

Seeing the startled eyes of the smaller boy hurt. Like he was in absolute shock someone was offering something as simple as walking him home.

Takeshi kept up his fake smile that was his standby.

The more time he spent in Tsuna's presence and was actually _looking_ at him, the more his calm rage built up. What the hell was wrong with his fellow students that they couldn't see how close they were to breaking this poor kid?

And that anger only got worse when he realized that Tsuna's mother either didn't notice or care that her son was being bullied. She just assumed he was overly clumsy, not even noticing the odd case he was carrying.

He was really curious about what was in it, but he could tell Tsuna was skittish enough having him there as it was.

Sure he was a bit late to baseball practice, but it was a small price to pay.

* * *

 _One month later..._

It was the beginning of the oddest friendship with the most unlikely person imaginable. Ever since Hibari found out Tsuna could play and wasn't likely to talk about it to others (thus reducing the risk of crowding and the inevitable act of being bitten to death), he took an odd interest in the smaller boy and his music.

He still didn't know where Hibari found the sheet music for some of the older _Chinese_ songs (and yes, he had looked them up when he finally translated the titles), but he quickly found the one thing that almost guaranteed Hibari-san wouldn't turn his dreaded tonfa on him when he was annoyed.

For some odd and unknown reason, Hibari happened to _like_ the Namimori Middle School song to the point it was his ringtone. Thus, the second Tsuna mastered it to such an extent that he could play it at the drop of a hat without missing a single note he soon found himself the go-to person to calm the older boy down by Kusakabe.

The Disciplinary Committee kept it's silence on his ability to play the violin, but there is a silent sense of relief that he can because it meant a reduction of being bitten to death by the bloodthirsty Hibari.

At least he could practice more without having to worry about anyone laughing at him for it. Hibari's preference to the roof was well known, and as far as anyone knew the boy had a thing for classical music. It wasn't like the teachers were going to tell him to turn it down, since they could barely control his actions to begin with.

He also noticed an increased scrutiny from Takeshi, which was really weird considering the other boy had barely noticed he existed before. But the older boy keeps his silence and his distance.

He didn't think he could handle the strangeness of having actual friends. He was so used to being alone it was his default state.

* * *

It was official.

 _Smoking_Bomb_ was a _genius_ when it came to music. After developing an interest in the violin, he had become more and more proficient in classical references, but this boy _understood_ them. Apparently his mother taught him piano and happened to be a large fan of the greats like Chopin or Beethoven.

He quit playing after her death, but he still kept up with the music. And the chat boards, once he dared to look for them.

The two of them hit it off almost instantly, and as an unintended consequence Tsuna ends up learning Italian. Mostly to translate some of the things the other boy said, but also because he's perfectly aware that his missing and most likely _dead_ father was half Italian himself.

Because honestly, he would never believe his mother when she claimed that narcissistic jackass who spent all of a week in their home and barely even looked at him or even listened was his father. He didn't know who that man was, but there was no way in hell that jerk was his dad.

It only cemented the idea that his mother may have finally lost it, trying to pretend that the obvious drifter was his father.

It took him four months to finally get _Smoking_Bomb's_ real name out of him.

Gokudera Hayato. A boy about his age who was currently trying to avoid his older sister who had a bad habit of using him as a guinea pig for her horrible cooking, and had a short temper.

He seemed rather happy to have someone his age who had zero expectations of him and shared a love for classical music.

Tsuna hoped one day he can meet his chat board friend, if only because he knew how to play several pieces of music that practically demanded a pianist accompany the violin to make it sound completely epic.

And when he shared that idea with Hayato, there was a two-day long pause before the boy timidly admitted he'd love to do the same, if only because it might actually remind him of the good times with his mother, rather than the sour times where he had to play while under the effects of his sister's absolutely horrible cooking.

Tsuna could absolutely sympathize with having something you love being ruined because of multiple bad experiences. It was why he refused to play around others until Hibari took an interest.

One did _not_ refuse Hibari anything if he expressed open interest in it. Not if you wanted to avoid being bitten to death. At the most, the older boy simply made specific requests for what Tsuna played that day while he napped.

Maybe one day he'd be brave enough to play in front of others, rather than just to the violent Hibari-san.

Takeshi was outside the door again, just listening. He had long since figured out what was in the case Tsuna had carried that day, and where the boy favored practicing.

It had taken some doing to slip up to the roof and leave the door just open enough to hear the boy play without Tsuna realizing it. He was rather good and he had to wonder why no one else had figured out this side of him.

It made Takeshi itch to pick up something himself to join him.

Not a violin, because that would require he take too much time out of his baseball practice, and he had little interest in the string instruments. But maybe a flute, because he always liked the soothing feel of the music.

And there was a flute in their attic. He remembered seeing it once after his mother died...supposedly it belonged to an ancestor and it was still in good condition.

"Eh? Yamamoto-kun, what are you doing up here?" asked a teacher a little too loudly.

Takeshi flinched, but at least he had been quick enough to close the door fast enough to avoid being busted. Forget Tsuna, he'd hate to see what Hibari's reaction would be to him intruding on the boy's playing!

"Just enjoying the peace and quiet without intruding on Hibari-san's nap time."

Which was partly true, but not the real reason he came up here.

"Lunch is almost over," the teacher reminded him. Takeshi winced, because there was no way Tsuna would play the rest of the song after he heard that stupid teacher's voice.

Damn, and it was a really good one too.

Almost as if it was fate, his dad sent him up later that night to put some things up in storage, and he stumbled across the old flute...and some sheet music. It was all old and just barely legible, but still in decent enough condition.

Now he just needed to figure out how to play and read the notes. Baseball was great, but he wouldn't mind a real hobby that he could keep to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the talk of the school. Takeshi Yamamoto had been banned from playing baseball for two months because of a broken arm, and his popularity had dropped like a stone because of it. There was a dark aura of depression that was hidden by his usual smiles, but anyone who bothered to look would see he wasn't happy about it.

It was so bad that after the first week of dealing with the sudden shift, he quit caring if Tsuna found out he _knew_ about the boy being able to play the violin, or that he usually practiced on the roof while Hibari was there to listen to it.

Hibari wasn't too happy about it, but he could clearly tell Takeshi was suicidal because he couldn't play baseball.

"EH?! You want to learn how to read sheet music?" repeated Tsuna in shock.

"I found some old ones in our attic along with a flute. I thought it could be interesting to try it..." admitted Takeshi embarrassed.

"Well, the flute is somewhat easier to learn than the violin...took me a year before I could play actual songs without messing them up, and six months before I could read the most basic of basic music sheets," admitted Tsuna. "But why me?"

"Because you're self taught and I know you won't spread the fact I'm trying out a new hobby around, especially if it goes badly," said Takeshi honestly.

"I mostly learned from online videos," said Tsuna.

"Are you going to be coming up here from now on?" demanded Hibari.

Takeshi let out a fake laugh, which he took to mean _'yes'_.

"Tch. Come up here after school, not during lunch," said Hibari. "And if you're going to join in with Tsuna, do it after you've learned how to play."

"Ahaha, fair enough, Hibari-san."

As it turns out, Tsuna had a natural knack for teaching. He made it far easier to understand sheet music than mere online videos or books would have been. Takeshi isn't a very dedicated student, and he has trouble with understanding his homework.

Instead of expecting Takeshi to understand the notes by rote, he does something different.

He takes out his violin and demonstrates the note, putting a sound to the odd squiggles. Oddly it makes the whole thing easier to understand, especially when he gets Takeshi to hum along with it.

"You're a good teacher, Tsuna-kun!"

Tsuna blushed.

"I could barely understand them either, so I found a site that takes you through each song note by note and finally figured it out," he admitted. "On the plus side, I can always introduce you to Hayato! I'm sure he knows of some good flute songs to practice!"

"Hayato?"

"My chat room buddy. We talk about classical music all the time, and he said he might have enough to buy a proper webcam soon," said Tsuna.

"Does he speak Japanese?"

"He learned how to speak it to honor his mother. She also taught him how to play the piano," said Tsuna.

Takeshi caught the hidden words he wasn't saying...that Hayato's mother was dead. He could empathize.

* * *

Tsuna was particularly eager for tonight. Hayato had recently gotten a webcam so they could properly see and talk to each other for the first time, since international calls were far too expensive.

There was a few rough starts as the two of them figured out how to work the video call, but once they did the two enthusiastically chatted throughout the night, switching between Japanese and Italian. Tsuna's pronunciation went from rough (from lack of anyone to practice it with) to something a bit more fluent.

Unseen, Tsuna's mother was smiling as she saw her son actually come alive while talking to the other boy online.

She made a note to increase his allowance just a bit, because at least he was finally trying to make friends. Now if only he would find a more outgoing hobby than listening to classical music all the time in his room.

Within a week, Tsuna was introducing Hayato to Takeshi.

"Yo!" he said, waving with his good arm.

" _What happened to your arm?"_ asked Hayato in Japanese.

"Sprained it while practicing baseball. According to the doctor it was lucky I didn't get tennis elbow from how often I use it," said Takeshi sheepishly. "So you're Hayato-kun, right? Tsuna speaks highly of you."

Hayato preened at the praise. Tsuna was the only real friend he would dare claim, even if he was civilian. The younger boy had no idea Hayato was slowly earning money to come to Japan. Between living expenses and dodging his sister, it was going to take a while and he didn't want to get Tsuna's hopes up.

" _So... you're learning to play the flute? Maybe we could form a trio or something,"_ said Hayato, changing the subject.

"Trio?"

" _Two musicians is a duet, three is a trio and four is a quartet,"_ explained Hayato patiently. Talking to Tsuna and having someone _actually_ listen to him in a subject that reminded him of the good times with his mother had done wonders for his temper.

He had more patience when he was discussing classical music than he did for mafia business or school work. And Tsuna had actually looked up some of the "UMA's" Hayato had mentioned and the two had spent a rather amusing night discussing them. That had really made his day, having a friend who genuinely took an interest in things that he liked enough to look them up.

"Apparently one of my famous ancestors was a noted flutist? Not sure how you pronounce that. Anyway he used to play for his boss, and since we're direct descendants we ended up keeping his old flute which was in our attic. Figured I needed a real hobby, since baseball had pretty much taken over my life, and it was an interesting way to become friends with Tsuna-kun where he wouldn't bolt."

" _You pronounced it fine. And what do you mean bolt?"_ asked Hayato dangerously.

Takeshi rubbed his head with his good hand and made sure Tsuna wasn't within earshot. It would probably be best to explain this on his own computer just in case.

"I can call you later and explain. It's not really something Tsuna would appreciate hearing, but the long and short of it is that Tsuna doesn't practice or play in front of anyone save the 'demon prefect' of our school and that's only because Hibari doesn't give him much of a choice. Apparently he was tired of the rumors that kept springing up from Tsuna finding empty rooms to practice in."

Hayato could tell there was something Takeshi wasn't saying, so he dropped it. For now.

However soon after midnight in Namimori, Hayato and Takeshi logged on to chat alone.

" _Explain, now."_

Takeshi's fake smile dropped a little.

"Tsuna is terrified of playing in front of others. So much so that he stops the second he even _thinks_ there's someone there to listen to him. The only reason he plays for Hibari-san is because Hibari told him he either played on the roof while he was up there napping or do it off school grounds. And considering Tsuna usually practices after school..."

" _Why would he be afraid of playing in front of others? Does he have stage fright?"_

Takeshi shook his head. Once Tsuna got going and was relaxed, he generally tended to zone out in front of those he trusted. But if he sensed unknowns...

"He's terrified of being mocked for how he plays. He's got a...reputation... I suppose you might say around our school. And not the good kind. I only figured it out by accident after I caught him jumping out of a second story window into a nearby tree to avoid some second years coming into the room to find the 'mystery ghost', shortly before he started playing on the roof."

" _...What sort of reputation?"_ asked Hayato, already worried Tsuna might be involved in the mafia or worse.

"He's called 'Dame-Tsuna', and even the teachers think of him as no good. I'm the closest thing to a friend he has in the entire school because everyone else ignores or mocks him outright. Hibari might qualify too, but it's debatable. Frankly after I realized what was going on I was amazed he still keeps coming to school at all."

Hayato's face went dark. It didn't bode well for anyone.

" _How bad are we talking here?"_

"He stays after school until the clubs have long since let out because it lowers the risk of being attacked," said Takeshi bluntly. He had only figured that out by accident a few months after he realized something was very wrong.

Finding out that Tsuna left his violin in the Disciplinary Committee's office so no one found out he could play had been painful. He shouldn't be that scared of others to the point he left anything valuable in the one place no one would dare rob.

Hayato looked pissed that his best friend had to suffer that much. He made moving to Japan a priority.

" _I'm planning to come to Japan as soon as I earn enough. When I do we're going to deal with those idiots so they'll leave him alone. Tsuna shouldn't have to be so afraid of others to the point he can't play,"_ said Hayato darkly.

"Agreed. I can keep an eye on him for now, and Hibari does a lot to dissuade the more violent ones away from him, but he doesn't deserve half of what those jerks put him through."

Takeshi had a deep seated disgust that had only solidified against his classmates. The way they had so easily turned proved they were all too fickle to be trusted.

There were very, very few who had stayed out of it like he had, and never said anything bad about Tsuna.

Which really only amounted to all of two people in the school outside of him and Hibari.

The Disciplinary Committee didn't count, because at this point Takeshi mostly considered them an extension of the scary prefect.

* * *

Takeshi's first attempt to try and play the flute ended in almost hilarious failure. And not because he had no talent whatsoever to playing it.

Tsuna couldn't help it as he started laughing himself to hiccups when Takeshi tried to blow into it...only to end up with a mouthful of dust.

"W-when was the last time you cleaned it?" he said, trying to speak through his laughter.

Takeshi smile was genuine for the first time in a long time.

"Uh...never? It's been in storage for ages..."

Tsuna managed to get his breathing under control from his laughter. It was the first time in years he had laughed like that.

It felt good.

"I know a store we can go to. Maybe they can recommend someone. It's a bit out of the way, but the prices are much cheaper than the chain stores."

And it ran the lowest risk of being recognized, went unsaid.

The two went right after school, forgoing the usual lessons on how to read sheet music. Takeshi had more or less figured it out, and was hoping to try his luck at playing soon. His arm was healed enough for him to start practicing, and the doctor said it was fine.

Baseball, however, was firmly _off_ the table for another month at least.

The store was small, quaint, but had a nice feel to it. He could see why Tsuna frequented it so much, even if the store keeper was very weird.

"Here for more music sheets, Tsuna-kun?" asked Kawahira.

"Do you know anyone who cleans flutes? The really old kind, not the newer ones," he asked.

"I could ask around. I thought you played violin though?"

Tsuna shook his head.

"Not for me. Takeshi tried playing one he found in the attic and got a mouthful of dust for his troubles."

Takeshi looked at the man and shivered. There was something very off about him. He wasn't sure he liked it.

Kawahira rubbed his beard when he saw the flute in question.

"They don't make these anymore. But I'm sure I could find someone who can clean it up properly. It'll take time though."

Takeshi was disappointed.

"There's some instruments in the back. You might be able to find a replacement while this one is cleaned and possibly repaired, but it'll cost you."

Takeshi perked up and went looking in the direction the man indicated. He found a flute close to the one his ancestor used (with more modern fittings) and some sheet music.

There were also some weird instruments back there, but he ignored them.

While the replacement flute and the sheets took up most of his allowance, at least he would be able to practice with them while the original was being checked.

On the plus side, at least his compulsive baseball habit had a rather unexpected benefit for playing "wind instruments" like the flute. He had a large enough lung capacity to keep playing the longer songs.

Even if his first attempts were rather embarrassing to hear.

Tsuna didn't seem to mind overly much though.

"If you think that's bad, you should have heard my first attempts to play the violin. Though part of that was that the bow had gone bad, so I had to replace it."

Thankfully the owner had a spare one in the same area Takeshi found his new flute. Even if it came with a weird sense of calm whenever he put it to the strings.

Takeshi smiled and it felt more natural than the fake one he always had.

"Are there any flute and violin songs?"

"Not sure. I mostly stick to straight violin, or ones with piano. The two go hand in hand really well," said Tsuna shrugging.

About the time the cast finally came off, Takeshi picked up the old flute. It seemed to shine from an internal light, like it was happy to be used again.

"Take care of that flute. It's an antique and hard to replace," said Kawahira, barely looking up from his book.

"I will. I only plan on using it once I get the hang of playing one anyway," said Takeshi.

He could at least do scales now, which was an improvement from the mess he started with.


	3. Chapter 3

Ryohei would be honest if he said that Tsuna and Takeshi were the last people he expected to see in his hospital room after an "extreme!" training accident resulted in both his legs being broken. To be fair, the driver hadn't expected him to be running past right as he pulled out.

The boxing team had given him their condolences...but there was a sharp undercurrent of relief that they were rid of him and his extreme training for a few months. Kyoko had come by already with flowers, but she was just happy he was alright and only suffered a few broken bones.

So when the baseball star and the so called "no good" of the school showed up, he was very surprised.

"What are you extremely doing here?" asked Ryohei. Though he was happy they had come at all. At most he expected a few visits from his sister and that was it.

"Well I remember how bored out of my mind I was without baseball for almost two and a half months, so I figured why not come to cheer you up?" laughed Takeshi.

"I came because he's still learning to play," said Tsuna flatly. And because Takeshi couldn't teach to save his life.

"That is extremely awesome!" said Ryohei, happy.

Tsuna eyed the boy oddly, as if sizing him up for something. What, Ryohei couldn't begin to guess.

He muttered something about wind, though Ryohei couldn't be sure.

The next day, Takeshi brought over some CD's, though it wasn't the genre he listened to. Though he didn't really have a set music preference, because usually he just listened to whatever someone else put on.

"What's this?"

"It's a type of musical instrument. With how loud you are normally, Tsuna said it might suit you pretty well. It's often used to announce the morning wake up on army bases, for instance."

The CD's were all trumpet-based.

After hearing Ryohei talk at his normal volume, Tsuna immediately pegged him as someone who could enjoy it. If only because you could hear it over the 'extreme' yelling.

Takeshi had laughed and jokingly accused Tsuna of trying to corrupt people with classical music. At least the ones he liked anyway.

Hibari had firmly vetoed any instrument playing, and Tsuna apparently couldn't see him as a singer.

(A fact that thoroughly amused Hibari's uncle, who was the source of all the classical Chinese music Hibari gave him. Fon was nice, if a bit strange and he didn't mind teaching Tsuna some Chinese Kempo during the summers. At least Tsuna could throw a proper punch now and not look like an idiot.)

Ryohei listened to them after Takeshi left...it was less boring than the TV, and the music was lively and fun.

The next day Tsuna came along with him, though he was rather nervous about it.

"So what do you think?"

"It was extremely good! What sort of instrument was that?"

Before Tsuna could reply, the door opened to reveal Ryohei's little sister Kyoko. The boy froze and seemed to melt into the surroundings.

Kyoko seemed surprised to see the two there.

"Takeshi-kun? Tsuna-kun?"

Tsuna looked very much like he'd love to be anywhere but there at that moment. It was obvious to Ryohei the boy had a one-sided crush on his sister, but was too afraid to even consider acting on it. Takeshi's face went blank, though the fake smile was firmly in place.

"Hello, Sasegawa-chan," said Takeshi.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I could commiserate not being able to practice for months on end. So we decided to bring something to distract Ryohei-sempai and hopefully cheer him up about not being able to train for two months," said Takeshi.

Kyoko noticed the CD's, and her face brightened.

"Oh, you want to try and convince Onii-san to play the trumpet?"

She looked almost _relieved_ about that for some reason.

"Well we can show him how to read the sheet music, but he'd have to learn how to play on his own," admitted Takeshi.

"I didn't know you could play, Takeshi-kun."

Takeshi didn't need to feel the light kick from Tsuna to keep quiet.

"Well I'm still not very good, but Tsuna is a fan of classical music and knows a few things."

"How about I get us some drinks?" said Tsuna, unable to face his crush at all. He was still terrified of telling anyone he could play the violin. He was out of the door before Kyoko could say anything.

Ryohei looked confused, and Takeshi just looked tired.

"Was it something I said?" asked Kyoko, confused.

"No, Tsuna's just skittish about his hobby. Very skittish, and will deny it if asked," said Takeshi.

"Why?"

Takeshi leveled an odd look at Kyoko, one Ryohei didn't like very much. It practically screamed "You _know_ why."

Still, they managed to make small talk until it was time to leave. Though the next day Ryohei confronted Takeshi about it.

"What was that about?"

"You mean about yesterday?" asked Takeshi. He wasn't smiling, which Ryohei knew was a major tell.

The older boy nodded.

"You know Kyoko-chan is in our class. What you aren't aware of is that outside of me, her and her friend Hana are the _only_ people who haven't bullied Tsunayoshi or mocked him with the degrading nickname of 'dame-Tsuna'. Even the teachers use it against him," said Takeshi, rubbing his eyes.

Ryohei blinked.

"Seriously?"

Takeshi sighed.

"It's to the point where Tsuna can't even speak of his hobby or relax around others without fearing he'll be mocked or have it used against him. I only found out by accident, and it took a lot of work for him to trust I wasn't just trying to get close to him in order to make his life even more miserable by pretending to be his friend," said Takeshi. "He's the one who had the CD's, by the way."

"...And my sister?"

"She stays out of it, for the most part. Which is about the only reason I can remain civil," said Takeshi bluntly.

And the main reason he had considered visiting Ryohei at all. He knew Kyoko was the older boy's sister, and he wouldn't have brought Tsuna if she had participated in his torment.

"What's his hobby?" asked Ryohei.

"He plays the violin. He became a fan of classical music because of it, though he's terrified to speak up or play in front of others," said Takeshi smiling. "He thought you might enjoy the trumpet because it's as loud as you are, and it requires an 'extreme' lung capacity."

Which Ryohei almost certainly had, if the amount of yelling he did was any indication.

The boxer mulled over this new information. While he did love boxing, he had seen the relief in his sister's eyes when she heard he might take up learning the trumpet. She worried about him and the fights he got into.

He still couldn't read sheet music, but at least he had something to do on the weekends that made his sister happy.

He was, however, banned from the "rooftop practice" partly due to the fact that he still wasn't very good at playing, but mostly because he was too loud for Hibari to tolerate.

* * *

 _Tsuna, Age fifteen..._

He had a bad feeling all day, and it only solidified when his mother told him about the new "home tutor".

Home tutor meant less time practicing or helping his friend with their own music. It also meant a higher risk of his hobby being found out.

Sadly, he was outvoted on the matter.

And it only got worse when he saw who his home tutor was.

"Ciaossu."

The baby, who was absolutely terrifying, was like something out of his nightmares.

Mafia? Really? As if his life wasn't bad enough now he was being roped into becoming a mafia boss?

Tsuna despaired, and could only hope to slip out fast enough to practice later. Somehow, he doubted it.

 _Reborn POV..._

Tsuna was interesting. There was a large number of classical music CDs in his room, particularly the violin. And several pieces of sheet music, which was really strange.

Strange, in that he didn't see a single instrument in the room or any indication Tsuna knew how to play one.

His file certainly never indicated the boy had any musical talent, as he was a failure in everything. It barely registered the fact he had three possible friends, or close acquaintances.

Oddly, all three of the people mentions were Flame Latent and very good prospects for his Guardians. The Rain kid in particular seemed to already be displaying several qualities of being a good Guardian, though possibly as his left hand man. He had a natural hit man's aura.

And then Reborn hit him with a bullet, and Tsuna's day went straight to hell.

To be fair, he was blaming the fact that clearly Reborn knew Fon which only lead to his secret desire to at least prove to Hibari he wasn't a total "herbivore", and was really the omnivore Hibari sometimes hinted he could be.

Hence why he ran straight past Kyoko and to Hibari instead, and went into a familiar rhythm of attack and defend.

And when the five minutes were up, Tsuna barely had time to register the sight of the tonfa before he was knocked out cold.

It was official. Reborn was an asshole.

* * *

Tsuna woke up to find a less than amused Hibari, a speculative Reborn and a concerned Takeshi.

"What was that about?" asked Takeshi.

Tsuna, without hesitation, pointed at the fake baby with the lizard.

"Blame him," he said flatly with as much annoyance as he could possibly muster.

"Hmph. You need more practice omnivore," said Hibari before he left. There was the spare uniform he left in the disciplinary committee room for the times he got his original one dirty.

It took Tsuna a few seconds to register what the older teen had said before he beamed brightly at the retreating Hibari's back.

 _He called me an omnivore!_

Which meant Hibari thought he had improved past his old self enough to warrant some respect. Coming from the violent teen, it was a high compliment.

"I wasn't expecting you to challenge that particularly vicious Cloud as your last regret," said Reborn oddly.

"It's all your fault. If you hadn't reminded me of Fon-sensei, I never would have remembered how much I wanted to prove to Hibari-san that I'm not a total weakling," said Tsuna, wincing. Hibari never pulled his punches for anyone.

Reborn suddenly went still.

"How do you know Fon?"

"He teaches me Chinese Kempo during the summers and brings sheet music from China," said Tsuna eyeing Reborn oddly. "He's actually really nice, even if he does almost resemble Hibari-san."

Most people seemed to think there was a strong resemblance between the two, which Tsuna never really understood.

Fon's eyes were more slanted, kinder and were far more tired. His hair was a lot less feathery than Hibari's, and it was longer to boot. Besides, they felt too different.

Hibari felt like wild and free, whereas Fon felt like a barely controlled hurricane.

When he said as much to the two of them, Hibari had huffed...but had looked rather pleased. Fon had just looked amused.

Come to think of it, that was around the time Hibari started hinting he could be upgraded to "omnivore"...

"Why do you have so much sheet music?" asked Reborn. Because that had been bothering him.

"I like classical music," said Tsuna shrugging.

"Ahaha... Tsuna doesn't mind us borrowing his sheets to practice with."

Mostly because he knew them so well he didn't really need them anymore, but the others could use all the help they could get.

"By the way, Hibari said that you could skip out on practice today, since he didn't think you'd be up to it after the beating he gave you."

Tsuna winced at the reminder. At least Hibari had avoided his arms on principle, because there was no way Tsuna could have handled not being able to play for months.

He was barely able to handle going to class, and inwardly he was cursing Reborn in his head for causing this mess.

Attracting attention only brought pain! It was a lesson he had learned instinctively years ago, and one he had kept in mind whenever he considered playing in front of others.

Still, the damage was done. Everyone had seen him fight Hibari and actually avoid being bitten to death using a competence no one had expected of him in martial arts.

Tsuna wilted under the looks of the other students. There was a reason he didn't talk about his hobbies.


	4. Chapter 4

If finding out Tsuna knew Fon was a surprise, it was nothing compared to the one Reborn got when he brought the first potential Storm Guardian he could think of that was around Tsuna's age to Namimori.

Hayato had a known interest in Japan, was a fan of classical music, and could speak Japanese fluently. He was also in the same age range as Tsuna and was a very strong Storm Latent.

His temper was a bit of a problem, but it was possible he would settle down if he had a proper Sky. Apparently his dream was to become the right hand man of a familigia. Or at least a trusted one.

Needless to say Reborn was completely caught off guard when the second Hayato was introduced, he took one look at Tsuna _and_ Takeshi and greeted them openly by name and with a great deal of enthusiasm.

More telling was the fact that Tsuna, the skittish kitten he was stuck turning into a lion, greeted him _back_ with open familiarity and didn't use any of the Japanese suffixes.

When he ordered Hayato to test the Decimo of the Vongola, he found the Storm unwilling to cooperate at all the _second_ he found out he was being ordered to attack Tsunayoshi.

Reborn was not amused.

"Alright you two, how the hell do you know each other?"

" _Chat boards,"_ said Hayato shrugging. Reborn blinked at the use of Italian, but his eyebrows shot up when Tsuna started using it as well. Fluently, at that!

" _I ran into Hayato through a classical music forum and we ended up talking about composers. Eventually we started video chatting once he got a proper web cam,"_ said Tsuna with equal ease.

" _You know Italian,"_ said Reborn in disbelief. There was nothing in Tsuna's file about this!

Tsuna blinked.

" _Well how else was I supposed to understand him when he kept using the Italian words and phrases into our conversations by mistake?"_ he said as if it were obvious.

Well, if the only person willing to talk to him kept slipping into another language by mistake, it was natural the boy would end up learning how to speak it as well if only to keep up.

Reborn huffed. There went his plan for some relatively harmless chaos.

" _By the way, didn't Hibari say he'd keep one of the rooms cleared if I ever managed to get here?"_ said Hayato to Tsuna. The boy immediately brightened, before giving Reborn a side-long look.

Clearly there was more than just the fact he spoke Italian that was being kept secret.

He was going to find out what, even if it meant being sneaky about it.

* * *

 _Two days later..._

Reborn had to hide his Flame signature, because Tsuna had apparently developed something akin to a sensory ability in response to the repeated bullying problem.

It wasn't too bad, but that was only because the Rain kid went out of his way to curtail any attempts to physically attack Tsuna.

He was quite confused when Tsuna brought in a large case about half as big as he was (the boy was practically tiny for his age) and seemed to openly brighten when Hayato came into the room and sat at the piano.

His confusion only mounted when Takeshi, the Rain kid came in as well with a flute...as well as the Sun he had been eyeing. That boy had a case almost as big as Tsuna's except he opened it to reveal a trumpet.

Which really had Reborn interested in finding out what Tsuna was planning to pull out.

He was only half-surprised to find it was a violin, obviously well cared for and well loved.

" _Ave Maria good for you guys?"_ he asked.

" _Yeah,"_ agreed Takeshi easily.

" _I've got that one down, to the extreme!"_ said the enthusiastic Sun.

Hayato nodded with a warm smile on his face.

Tsuna put his bow to the strings...and the only way to describe the scene he was watching was "magic".

The quartet were all clearly self taught (save for Hayato, who had formal training from his mother), but their skill with their instruments was good enough to make it passable. The Sun was the roughest, but he managed to pull it off.

Tsuna displayed the most skill, though Hayato came a very close second. There was a sort of peace on the boy's face that Reborn had yet to see, and he wondered how the hell Iemitsu missed that his son could play this well.

He got his answer the second he made an appearance once the song was finished.

"HIE! Reborn!" squeaked Tsuna, immediately hiding the violin out of what could only be reflex.

Reborn pouted.

"You don't need to hide it. You were actually quite good considering you've never had training," said Reborn.

Tsuna blushed to the roots of his hair, and Reborn watched as the boys instinctively seemed to go on the defensive around him. Definitely Guardian material.

"Did you really have to do that?" complained Hayato. "Tsuna's skittish enough about playing in large groups."

"And we finally had a proper quartet, too," complained Takeshi with good nature.

"Why didn't your mother say anything about your ability to play the violin?" asked Reborn.

Tsuna went completely silent.

"She doesn't know. She just thinks he has a classical music hobby," said Takeshi. "It took two years before Tsuna was even comfortable enough to play around my dad."

Reborn blinked.

"Stage fright?" asked Reborn.

Tsuna wilted.

"I just don't want the other kids to laugh at me. Violin is the only thing I'm good at, and I'm barely tolerable at kempo," said Tsuna.

Reborn frowned. What happened to this poor kid that his self confidence was _that_ shot to hell? That he was so terrified of having his hobby mocked that he couldn't play in front of others.

"I expect you to at least play in front of your mother eventually," said Reborn frowning.

Tsuna looked horrified at the idea.

"No way!" he said.

Reborn drew his gun.

"There is no way I'm letting _her_ find out when she can't even tell the difference between a drifter and my dead father!"

Reborn blinked.

"What."

"She brought home this annoying drifter one year and claimed he was my dad. The jerk stayed for a week, left a complete mess of the place, and then left like it was nothing!" said Tsuna ranting. "I wish she would just admit that he's dead and gone and move on with her life!"

Reborn stared.

Tsuna _honestly_ believed his father was dead. And that Iemitsu was a drifter his mother had picked up for a week.

This... he had to share this with someone. It was too funny _not_ to.

* * *

Tsuna found out Reborn was dead serious about him playing in front of his mother when he found his violin case on his bed when he came home.

He was furious. His mother was thrilled, thinking her son had a new hobby and would put his love of classical music to good use.

Hayato, who had found himself taking the spare bed room the _second_ Nana found out Tsuna's Italian friend had moved to Namimori and was looking for a place, winced. He promptly took a few steps back and hoped it was far enough to stay out of the blast zone.

The moment Nana mentioned sharing this with her husband, Tsuna snapped.

It wasn't pretty.

"Mom, when will you quit pretending Dad is still alive?" demanded Tsuna, his temper at the breaking point.

Reborn frowned behind his coffee mug.

"Tsu-kun, your father isn't dead," said Nana in a scolding tone.

"Then where is he?" demanded Tsuna.

"He went off to be a star," she replied.

"Where? Why hasn't he contacted us _once_ , or even bothered to show up? He's never around for the important things like birthdays, holidays and he doesn't even bother to send anything on your anniversary! If he's still alive, then why haven't I seen him around?" said Tsuna.

"He came home, before."

"Mom, that was a drifter that just looked like him. That guy was a complete idiot and he was using your kindness simply because you couldn't see he wasn't dad," said Tsuna gently. "If he really were him, then why did he leave so abruptly after only a week instead of spending time with us?"

Nana faltered. It was hard to refute her son's words, because honestly? Iemitsu was a rather poor example of a father and husband.

It was painful enough hearing the comments of the other mothers in the neighborhood about her being a single mother. But hearing it from Tsuna hurt even worse, like a knife wound to the chest.

Neither of them saw Reborn recording the entire thing on his phone.

"I..."

Tsuna looked incredibly exhausted about the subject.

"Forget it. I've given up hope on you noticing the truth years ago," he said.

Nana looked like he had openly slapped her. Hayato winced.

Reborn was not happy about the way that had gone, but the sad truth was that it was merely a ticking time bomb waiting to go off for years. He had just set the initial spark to send things into motion.

With a few taps of the phone, Reborn sent the video to Lal Mirch. Odds were Iemitsu wouldn't believe this anyway, with how dense the idiot was.

Tsuna practically collapsed on his bed, and refused to come down for dinner or talk to anyone. He openly curled into Hayato's side when the older boy sat down next to him, and he looked like he wanted to cry.

Reborn didn't tolerate weakness, but considering the emotional wreck the kid was in, he let it slide for the night.

* * *

Takeshi noted the bags under Tsuna's eyes and immediately demanded to know what happened.

Hayato winced.

"Reborn set off a powder keg between Tsuna and his mom."

"Which one?" asked Takeshi.

"She had to bring up my dead father and how he'd be thrilled to hear about my 'new hobby' because that jerk brought my case home," said Tsuna tiredly. He looked emotionally drained.

Takeshi gave him a one-armed hug.

"Where is your case anyway?"

Tsuna winced, before he lifted it up.

"I'm putting it back in the room," he said.

Of course it didn't go unnoticed. His luck couldn't possibly be that good, and he was so late for class he was unable to slip into Hibari's office to put it back where he normally kept it. He had to keep it under his desk, and of course the asshole teacher known as Nezu-sensei had to bring it up.

"And what is this?" he demanded.

Tsuna was so tired and not really in the mood for this. The glare he shot the teacher was rather vicious, coming from him and it made Nezu back away for a moment. At least until he remembered who he was dealing with.

"Defying a teacher now, are we? I see your half-breed friend is clearly a bad influence on you."

Oh it was _on_ now.

Tsuna stood up and looked the man in the eye.

"You know it's assholes like you that are the reason I don't play in front of others," he commented, his voice dead and flat.

"Detention!"

Tsuna rolled his eyes. He picked up his violin case and just started walking out of the room. He was almost jerked back when Nezu attempted to grab the case, only to yelp in pain when Hayato nearly twisted his arm in order to remove the hand.

Takeshi eyes were equally angry, and it was only because he didn't have a baseball bat that kept him from joining Hayato. Instead he got up as well and opened the door for Tsuna.

Nezu was pissed, and already threatening expulsion. But Tsuna was honestly too drained to care.

He practically collapsed on the couch in Hibari's office.

"Omnivore. Why are you not in class?"

"Because I want to lodge a formal complaint against the teacher," said Tsuna.

Hibari paused.

"What happened?" he demanded. Hayato winced at the tone.

The Cloud was clearly five seconds from biting someone to death.

"Reborn brought Tsuna's case home, and his mom started going on about how it was 'great he had a new hobby' and that she was going to tell his 'father' the good news. Which only set off a fight between them about how his dad was dead and she was in a perpetual state of denial about that fact and how she missed the truth in front of her. He didn't really sleep last night, and that asshole teacher decided to bring up the fact he didn't have time to stash his case in here before class," explained Hayato.

Hibari blinked, before his eyes narrowed. After the introduction of Takeshi to Tsuna's odd pack, he had become far more informed of the herbivore's attempts to cut down _his_ little animal. It was only because Tsuna would have made a fuss about it that kept him from biting every one of the instigators to death over the subject.

He didn't tolerate crowding, but he hated herbivore's pretending they were carnivores by attacking his own even more.

"Stay here. I will deal with that fake older carnivore," said Hibari. He went straight to a file cabinet and pulled out a very thick manila folder before heading straight to the principle's office with it. Odds were that the foolish older herbivore was already attempting to expel his little animal over this.

His grin was positively murderous. He really hoped that was the case, so he wouldn't have to waste time hunting down the idiot and biting them to death.

While Hibari was off to put the fear of god into a soon-to-be-former teacher, Tsuna was curled up against Takeshi and Hayato, catching up on some much needed sleep. The two gave a particularly annoyed glare at Reborn when he came in, and he kept his hands up in a clear show he wasn't there to cause trouble. For now.

Even he knew when his students needed time to recover.


	5. Chapter 5

Tsuna officially thought Reborn sucked. Ever since the incident with the recently fired teacher (the man had lied on his application and Takeshi had been smart enough to record multiple incidents of him delivering verbal abuse to Tsuna, which he shared with Hibari) Tsuna had found himself the center of attention.

He didn't like it. At all.

Everyone was positively buzzing about the entire incident, and he kept having to dodge questions about what was in the case he had with him that day.

Most had figured out it was an instrument from the comments he made, but no one knew which one.

Needless to say he would have retreated into Hibari's office or to the roof if he could have gotten away with it.

Thank the gods for Takeshi. Even if he did make things harder for the damn rumor mill to die down.

"Ahaha... Tsuna's actually quite good. He even taught me and Ryohei-sempai how to read sheet music so we could practice."

Tsuna wilted into himself.

"You never did say which instrument you played," said Kyoko.

"It's a string instrument," he mumbled, trying to hide in his shirt. He wasn't very successful at it, but at least Hayato's growling kept people from getting too close to him.

Still the damage was done.

Finally Tsuna couldn't take it anymore.

"I am not telling you what I play and I am _not_ playing it in front of any of you! My own mother has never heard me play!" he said loudly.

He was so glad when the lunch bell rang. He was out of the classroom before anyone had the chance to stop him, with Hayato and Takeshi following him at a more sedate pace.

They weren't surprised to find him already on the roof, violin in hand playing something.

"Isn't that 'Master of Tides' by Lindsey Stirling?" said Takeshi.

"Not sure. I prefer the Piano Guys," said Hayato.

(Another group on youtube. I love their video "Cello Wars", which is basically a mash up of _Star Wars_. Seeing Darth Vader playing an accordion is hilarious.)

Reborn was already up there, as was Hibari.

Tsuna seemed to have become resigned to the fake baby's presence when he played, because he didn't stop.

Takeshi made sure to close the door.

Tsuna was far too wound up about what happened earlier.

He spared an annoyed glance at Reborn.

While the tutor/hit man was slowly forcing Tsuna out of his self-imposed isolation, he could be nicer about the whole thing. It was pretty clear that Reborn wasn't going to take no for an answer, but at least he wasn't forcing Tsuna to play in front of the very people he couldn't stand. Considering what little confidence the other boy had was wrapped up entirely in his ability to play, it was going to take a while before he was able to come out of his shell.

The first big task...playing in front of his mother.

* * *

When Lal Mirch saw the video Reborn had so "helpfully" sent her and one other, she had thought he had faked it at first.

Until she saw the look in the teen's eyes and realized with some disbelief Tsunayoshi, the idiot's son, actually believed his father was long since dead and his mother was delusional to believe otherwise. There was also a reference to something she really didn't like, but had no way to confirm.

She debated on whether or not to share this with Iemitsu, but something stayed her hand.

What good would it do to tell that idiot his own son thought he had long since died and that the one time in memory he had bothered to go home, the boy had openly believed him to be a _drifter_ who was taking advantage of his mother's delusion?

It was his own damn fault that his own son thought he was dead. If he had been a real father he would have been there.

And then Lal finds the minor report Reborn apparently forgot to edit out when he sent the video.

" _Tsunayoshi is full of surprises. He's actually quite skilled with the violin and can speak Italian quite fluently. Apparently he learned it to speak to the same Storm I was planning to introduce to him. However he is very skittish and absolutely refuses to perform in front of anyone save his Guardians. Considering the level of bullying his Rain documented for his Cloud, I'm not entirely surprised. I have high hopes that he might be more receptive to letting others know of his talent with the violin sometime soon."_

Iemitsu didn't know his son at all.

* * *

Reborn was amused/exasperated when he found out Tsuna had a weird habit of corrupting people with music. Especially his guardians, even if his Cloud refused to be part of it. However he gave honest criticism and kept the majority of the others away while Tsuna practiced.

Which was why shortly after Lambo somehow managed to end up as part of the odd group, he wasn't entirely surprised the first thing Tsuna asked of Lambo's Ten-Years-Older self was which instrument he played.

Lambo chuckled.

"I almost forgot how music obsessed you were back then, Tsuna-nii-san. And I play guitar, though it took me a month to learn sheet music. You're a really good teacher," said Lambo.

Tsuna blushed at the praise.

"Oh, and before I forget... I-Pin, when she arrives, is particularly good at the violin as well. At least once she finally got some glasses anyway. She learned the basics in about a week, from what I was told."

Tsuna perked up at that news. It would be nice to have someone to practice the violin with.

"What about Reborn?" asked Tsuna.

"He can't play at all, though you once blackmailed him into singing," said Lambo, grinning evilly as he disappeared before Reborn could attack him.

Reborn took one look at the gleam in his student's eyes and said "Not a chance in hell."

Tsuna pouted, almost turning his puppy dog eyes on him. Too bad Lambo distracted him.

The five year old tackled Tsuna into a hug, and the older boy let him. He was cute, for a brat.

Besides...this meant his quartet would eventually turn into a sextet at the very least. At the rate he was going, he could might even be able to form a proper band!

He looked Lambo over and saw how dirty the boy was and sighed.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up before dinner."

Odds were his mother would love having the kid around. Things had become very strained between them after their argument over his father. She still insisted he was alive, but until he saw a DNA test from a living person, he was firmly of the belief that the other genetic donor was firmly dead.

And if he wasn't, then he had better have a damn good reason for leaving them like this otherwise Tsuna would gladly file him as dead anyway.

Nana fell in love with Lambo immediately, even as she shot Tsuna a sad glance.

Tsuna still hadn't worked up the nerve to play his violin in front of her. Though he was getting there.

* * *

 _A week later..._

Reborn brought the case home a second time, though he made it clear he wouldn't allow a second argument to spark.

Tsuna sighed.

"I might as well get this over with..." he said. If only so Reborn would drop the subject.

He carefully took out his beloved instrument and for once, didn't lock the door. His mother was downstairs with Lambo, making dinner and Hayato was watching the entire thing nervously.

He put the bow to the strings and began playing.

Dead silence filled the house, save for his music. He was playing "Roundtable Rival", which was one of the harder songs, in his opinion. Not quite up there with "Master of Tides", but still pretty difficult and required a certain skill level.

He was so into his playing that he didn't even notice his mother watching him from the door, tears streaming down her face because she honestly had no idea her son could play that well. Even Lambo, who was normally so hyperactive was silent. But that was mostly from awe at the sounds produced.

When he finished he sighed...only to be tackled at the legs by Lambo.

"That was really good, Tsuna-nii!"

Nana said nothing. She went downstairs and continued making dinner. Though she was rattled by the fact her son had learned all on his own how to play so beautifully and she had no idea. That he was so afraid of anyone knowing he was talented that he hid it even from her.

It hurt. It hurt as if there was a jagged wound in her chest, knowing her son didn't even trust her with the knowledge of his talents.

It was a tense dinner, but for the first time since the argument wounds were beginning to heal.

Though it didn't stop Reborn from forcing Tsuna to play out in the almost open at Takesushi a week later.

He didn't really hide, but they didn't lock the door as they usually did so the adults could at least see who was playing.

* * *

Tsuna only has to take _one_ look at the pink haired woman before his face goes completely blank. He doesn't even think twice about his actions, when she attempts to give him a can of juice.

He threw it right back at her, glaring.

"Really? You _really_ think I would be stupid enough to trust a woman who hates her own brother enough to poison him repeatedly without giving a damn about what it would do to him?" he said flatly.

Bianchi stared.

"What."

"I know what you did to Hayato. And if you go anywhere near him I swear I won't hesitate to point Hibari in your direction."

Bianchi glared at him.

"How do you know my brother?" she demanded, murderous. She had come for Reborn, not Hayato.

"I know he's had to move repeatedly because you won't leave him the hell alone, and that you've poisoned him so often that he can't come near you without having stomach cramps. I know it took me five months before he even thought about touching a piano again, and that was only because he wanted to create a duet," said Tsuna glaring. "I don't care what relation you claim you have with _my_ Storm. If you come near him or try to bring him back to that house, I will not hesitate to come after you."

Bianchi was already drawing her weapon...which was poison cooking. She was going to kill this brat and then find Reborn.

Too bad Takeshi found them first. Bad for Bianchi, that is.

He didn't even need to ask. He slammed his baseball bat into her stomach so hard she coughed up blood.

"Stay away from Tsuna and Hayato," said Takeshi darkly, eyes murderous.

Tsuna wasn't the _only_ one who Hayato mentioned Bianchi to. Takeshi recognized her from the lone photo the silverette had of his sister. If only to warn his friends about her.

The first thing Tsuna did upon entering the school was warn Hayato that Bianchi was in town. The silver haired bomber nearly had to be taken to the nurse when he found out.

The next thing he did (during lunch) was warn Hibari that there was another hit man in town targeting him and was more likely than not going to disturb the peace. Or she could give the entire school food poisoning trying to kill him, which would really piss the teen off.

Bianchi soon found herself on the wrong end of a Cloud's anger, the minute Hibari found out she was in the school _without permission_.

Reborn was oddly impressed. And more than a little disturbed.

Mostly because he hadn't expected Tsuna to dislike Bianchi that vehemently without a proper introduction.

Granted, her first move upon seeing him for the first time was to try and kill him, but still!

 _A day later..._

Tsuna was not happy, Hayato was looking anywhere _but_ the kitchen table, and Lambo was happily oblivious.

"Explain to me again why she's here," said Tsuna.

"She's obsessed with me and isn't likely to leave anytime soon. Especially when her brother is within the same city limits," said Reborn.

Tsuna glared at the woman, who flinched.

"And did you explain exactly what would happen if the Vongola found out she killed their only candidate left for Decimo that's currently active?"

Tsuna, regardless of what his grades said about him, was _not_ an idiot as Reborn discovered. He hid his intelligence because he had learned a long time ago that standing out only brought more pain than it was worth.

Bianchi, to her credit, didn't wince.

"I haven't yet," admitted Reborn.

Tsuna looked her in the eye.

"Let's make this clear. I will _not_ allow you to poison Hayato ever again. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone my own age who can actually keep up with the classical music references I like to make, or who doesn't mind debating about it for hours on end about how to make it better?! I refuse to let our quartet go back to being a trio again!"

"Extreme little bro!"

Tsuna suddenly smirked, an evil gleam coming to his eyes.

"Hey Onii-san... This lady needs a reminder of how older siblings are _supposed_ to treat their little brothers and sisters. She seems to think it's acceptable to force feed her little brother bad food so he misses out on training. Feel free to be as 'extreme' as you like in teaching her," said Tsuna.

"EXTREME!"

Ryohei grabbed Bianchi before she had a chance to protest, and dragged her off bodily while never lowering his voice.

"That...was evil."

"I approve," said Reborn.

"She deserves it. If she pushes her luck I'll lock her in an office with Hibari after waking him up from a nap before he's ready," said Tsuna flatly.

"Cruel and unusual," grinned Hayato.


	6. Chapter 6

Tsuna hated Reborn's innate desire for chaos. First he had forced a confrontation that Tsuna had hoped to leave until he no longer had to live in the house (which meant he wouldn't have to live with his mother's looks that she still occasionally shot his way), and now one of the biggest gossips of the school had found out he played the violin!

Why did that jerk have to leave the door open when they were practicing after school? Now there was a picture of his quartet playing music in the school paper!

Tsuna was not happy about this turn of events.

Every word out of his usual tormentor's mouths made him want to cringe. This was the exact reason why he never played in front of others!

"So you think you can play violin, dame-Tsuna?" sneered Mochida.

"If you can play, then lets hear it!" said another.

Tsuna tried to withdraw into himself like a turtle. Hayato's growling was positively evil, and Takeshi had a dark look in his eyes.

"I bet he can only make shrieking sounds!" laughed Mochida.

Damn Reborn. Damn him to hell and back.

Finally _someone_ had enough of their mocking.

"That is enough. Honestly are you fifteen or are you five?" said Hana in disgust.

"If this is the sort of reaction he gets from people finding out he knows how to play the violin, then no wonder he never said anything," said Kyoko with firm disapproval.

It was because of Tsuna that her brother had a safer hobby, even if it was loud and sometimes didn't sound good. But Ryohei had fun playing the trumpet, and he enjoyed being around his new friends. They didn't seem to mind his loud nature, and actually listened to him when he gushed about his favorite sport. And for that, Kyoko liked them all.

So watching the rest of their class mock Tsuna and seeing how badly the smaller boy was taking it made her patience snap like a brittle twig.

"We're just having fun, Kyoko-chan," said Mochida quickly.

"No, you weren't. There's a difference between 'having fun' and being an absolute jerk. Can't you see you idiots are the reason we've never heard him play before? I don't blame him at all for keeping it secret!" said Kyoko angrily.

"Tsuna was terrified of letting anyone know he could play the violin for exactly this reason. He didn't want the _one_ thing he was good at and loved so much to be mocked by idiots who only thought of the fun they could have by bullying him," said Takeshi darkly. His voice was hard and his smile was completely absent. "It's because of him that I didn't turn suicidal when I broke my arm a few years ago."

"You guys are complete assholes. None of you even care about the fact you've turned a nice kid into an almost broken wreck," snarled Hayato.

"Guys, that's enough," said Tsuna in a whisper. It was pretty damn clear he was doing everything in his power not to cry. He wouldn't give these bastards the satisfaction. Hayato, who sat behind him, looped his arm around his neck in an awkward hug.

Mochida sneered at the scene.

"Homos."

Tsuna's skittishness shifted into something far more dangerous. He could take any attack on his own person with the ease of long practice...but the second you went after his friends he got pissed.

Mochida barely had time to register Tsuna was out of his seat before there was a fist in his gut and a kick that sent him flying into the blackboard.

"Leave. My. Friends. Alone."

There was a dangerous growl in his voice that said volumes of how much pain he would put any number of them through if he heard another comment about his friends like that.

Outside, Reborn was watching the entire thing with amusement as he finally had an idea of how to get Tsuna to show the spine he had been hiding under that skittish exterior.

* * *

Tsuna blinked at the absurd number of men around his house.

What on earth?

"Halt! Only the Sawada family are allowed in!"

Tsuna blinked.

"Okay, clearly I didn't sleep enough last night... wonder if Takeshi will care if I crash at his place tonight," muttered Tsuna. If anyone asked he was so blaming Lambo for kicking him awake in his sleep.

They _still_ hadn't switched out his bed for a bunk bed so Lambo had his own. Not that he really minded sharing the bed with Tsuna... it was more than big enough.

Hell, Tsuna had even caught Reborn joining in once or twice, when he thought no one was awake enough to notice!

"Tsuna, where do you think you are going?" demanded Reborn.

"You mean away from whatever new hell you've decided to 'grace' me with?" deadpanned Tsuna.

"Wait...this is the next Vongola Decimo?" muttered the same one who told him he wasn't allowed in.

Tsuna sighed as the large group parted. So much for his plan to crash at Takeshi's house for the night.

He took one look at the twenty-something man in his house and then looked at Reborn with an unimpressed gaze.

" _Really?"_ he said in Italian, startling the blond with the tattoos.

Reborn smirked. He neglected to mention Tsuna spoke Italian fluently to his former student.

" _Stick to your native tongue,"_ he informed Tsuna. _"Stupid Dino needs the practice."_

Seeing the blond wince, Tsuna sighed.

"Are you his former student?"

"Uh yeah. How did you know?"

"Because of the familiarity that headache has with you," said Tsuna flatly, pointing at Reborn.

Reborn smirked.

"That and the way those grown men flinched when they saw him. Clearly he is a nuisance that insists on 'spreading the love'," continued Tsuna.

Reborn's smirk widened even more. Tsuna knew him so well.

"And to think, I haven't broken out the explosives with you yet," said Reborn.

"Lambo and Hayato blow enough up, thank you. It's bad enough you set off 'that' time bomb I had been hoping to avoid until _after_ I moved out of the house," said Tsuna annoyed. Reborn winced at the reminder.

Dino clearly wanted to ask, but was smart enough (or he had a sense of tact) not to.

"No way! What's the Bucking Bronco doing here?" said Hayato, practically skidding into the house.

"Bucking Bronco?" repeated Tsuna incredulous. He gave Hayato an odd look. "Smoking Bomb, Poison Scorpion... what the hell is with the mafia and weird nicknames?"

Hayato and Dino both choked at that.

Reborn smirked.

"This coming from Violin_Virtuoso?" said Reborn.

"EH?! You're..." said Dino looking at Tsuna incredulous.

"What's your handle on the chat boards?" asked Tsuna.

"I don't have one, but now Reborn's demand that I study up on classical music makes sense. Your papers on musical composition were surprisingly easy to understand... most of the others use terms well above what I could handle," said Dino quickly.

Tsuna shot Reborn an unimpressed look. And then he spotted what was on the table.

"How many times have I asked you to leave that at the school!" he hissed.

"Eh? This is yours?" said Dino.

"Tsuna plays rather well, for someone self-taught. However he really needs to get over his stage fright."

"It's not stage fright! It's a well justified disdain for people who don't understand good music when they hear it!" said Tsuna crossly. "As I recall, it was your fault the school's biggest gossip finally found out which instrument I could play!"

Takeshi had outright _refused_ to play the flute around others until Tsuna felt comfortable playing the violin. Ryohei said the same, since he didn't think their classmates deserved it.

"This coming from the brat even Fon said had potential?" said Reborn.

"Wait, Fon as in the Storm Arcobaleno?!" said Dino.

"Apparently he's been training Tsuna here every summer in Chinese Kempo," said Reborn smugly.

"Only because I'm the lone person who can calm Hibari-san down when he's in a real snit! I still don't get why Hibari dislikes his uncle so much... Fon seems nice enough and he's really patient. Unlike _some_ I could mention," said Tsuna, shooting daggers at Reborn.

"Wow... you have a bigger spine than I did when I first started with Reborn as my home tutor," said Dino impressed. Not even _he_ was brave enough to backtalk Reborn like that, or give such a look.

"It helps that I'm more scared of my own classmates than I am of him," said Tsuna.

Reborn hid his face behind his fedora. Tsuna _trusted_ him because while Reborn was something of an ass, he _never_ mocked his ability to play. Instead he actively encouraged it, because it was a harmless hobby that could win him allies.

Besides, a good number of famous classical musicians originated from Italy. Even the word "Virtuoso" was Italian for "Master" or "Expert".

"Impressive! So what sort of music can you play?" asked Dino, openly enthusiastic.

He had heard Tsuna was a total klutz with bad grades and very few friends. Finding out the kid could play violin, could speak fluent Italian (despite being Japanese) and had enough spine to argue with Reborn was a surprise.

Tsuna took one look at Reborn's smug face and sighed.

"Fine, but you owe me more music sheets for this," he said flatly.

"Deal," said Reborn immediately.

"Should I get my keyboard?" asked Hayato. It was how he got back into practice with the piano, since the real ones were too expensive and the guitar keys were beyond awkward. The tabletop versions were much easier to get his hands on in comparison.

"I'm thinking Pachebel's Canon," said Tsuna.

"Got it. A pity Takeshi and Ryohei haven't learned that one yet," said Hayato.

"I swear you're corrupting your Guardians with music," muttered Reborn.

Dino looked at his old tutor.

"Tsuna has somehow managed to convince his Rain and Sun to learn classical instruments and even taught them how to read music sheets," explained Reborn. "His Rain can play the flute and his Sun is quickly growing competent with the trumpet. And it was heavily implied that he'll get his Lightning hooked on the guitar and another on the violin."

Tsuna smirked at Reborn.

"Don't forget, Lambo _also_ said that I blackmailed you into singing."

Dino gaped.

"Reborn, _sing_?" he said in disbelief.

"It's never going to happen," said Reborn crossly.

"I have a tape recorder that will say otherwise one day, and I plan on selling it to Viper...if I ever find them. I'm sure the Mist will pay _handsomely_ for it," said Tsuna smugly.

He had mentioned what Lambo said to Fon, and the first thing the Chinese martial artist said was that Viper would kill for something like that to hold over Reborn.

"Over my dead body, brat," growled Reborn. He was never going to sing... his pride would never allow it.

"...If you ever get a recording of that, I will owe you my first born," said Dino absolutely serious. Tsuna beamed at him, and Reborn kicked his old student for that comment.

Tsuna was even nice enough to throw open the doors so the men outside could hear it.

Hayato brought down his keyboard, and set it up. He gave Tsuna a thumb's up, and Tsuna put his bow to string.

Dino wasn't the only one surprised by the pure sound that came from the violin. You could barely notice the piano accompanying it.

Tsuna looked so free and relaxed...it was a complete turnover from his cross expression from earlier. It was a pity when the song ended.

It took Tsuna a few moments to register the clapping.

"Wow! That was great! I've heard a few performances before, but none as good as that was!" said Dino honestly. Tsuna blushed from the praise.

And it only got worse when he realized that some of the men outside were agreeing with him.

Reborn was silent. Tsuna was seriously wasted in that public school, and it was clear it had done him no favors.

Five people out of a school of over four hundred, including the teachers, that treated him like a human being?

That went beyond sad and pathetic. And with Tsuna's skill, he would do far better in a place that actually appreciated his talents.

Besides... if he relocated the boy there was a high chance he might be able to attract a much more suitable Lightning Guardian. Forcing a five-year-old, even one who had the Ten Year Bazooka, to act as a Guardian was the height of idiocy.

"Oh yeah, why were you so annoyed Reborn had your violin case?" asked Dino. Surely Tsuna would have brought home with him.

Tsuna's hand lashed out and caught a certain cow-print wearing Lightning.

"This one likes to throw grenades around like party favors. Though originally it was because I didn't want the jerks who think it's funny to ruin my things to find out I had one. Have you _seen_ how expensive it is to buy a violin, even used? It was safer to leave it in Hibari's office, because no one is stupid enough to break in there... he would bite them to death within a day and leave them broken and bleeding for a week at least!" said Tsuna sighing.

"Let me guess. Hibari is a Cloud?" asked Dino.

"Not only that, he's Fon's nephew," said Reborn.

"...Seriously?"

The kid could play the violin that well, had managed to convert his Guardians into his own personal orchestra, and had enough spine to sass Reborn. As if that wasn't enough, he had an Arcobaleno's _relative_ as his Cloud? Talk about lucky!

Dino quickly revised that opinion when he got to know the kid a bit better.

The boy was skittish as hell, and his reputation of being clumsy was well justified. There was also a lot of unspoken tension between his mother for some reason.

It was only after Tsuna and the others went to sleep that he found out why.

"Tsuna doesn't trust his mother, and he openly believes his father is dead."

"Wait... I thought his dad is the head of CEDEF."

"He is."

"But that jerk is still breathing last I checked."

"He is," said Reborn.

"Then why..."

"The total amount of time Iemitsu has spent around his son and his wife would amount to all of a month, give or take a week. The last time he bothered to even show up here, Tsuna immediately assumed he was a random drifter taking advantage of his mother's delusion that her husband was alive and avoided the place. He's also stated that unless Iemitsu has a damn good reason, his father was going to stay dead and hopefully buried in his mind."

Dino winced. That couldn't possibly go over well, and somehow he had the feeling the fact Iemitsu was in the mafia wasn't enough of a reason for Tsuna to accept why he had never come home.

After all, from what Hayato had said he managed to maintain a long-distance friendship with Tsuna despite being in Italy (and moving around every few months to avoid his sister) for several years before he ended up in Namimori. And he had done it without once mentioning the mafia or breaking Omerta.

If someone as hot tempered and quick on the draw as _Hayato_ could pull that off, then there was zero excuse for Iemitsu to all but abandon his wife and son.

"So why did you call me here anyway?"

Not that he was complaining _that_ much mind you, but it seemed to him Tsuna was doing fine.

"Because he's been isolated for so long, I wanted to see if there was a way to break him out of his shell so he would play more. As you've already seen, he plays well, but he refuses to do it where others can hear him."

"But he didn't seem to mind earlier."

"Exactly. I'm guessing it's the audience that's the problem, not his nerves," said Reborn.

Tsuna was so worried about the torment from his classmates and the odd teacher that he froze up the second he thought they'd hear him. It was a headache to deal with.

However the second Reborn introduced someone who had never met him before, let alone his reputation, he was able to play without hesitation.

It was nice to confirm that problem, actually.


	7. Chapter 7

Tsuna was heading to school when he came across someone interesting. It was a child who wore a _very_ familiar outfit with a long braid on their head.

For a moment he almost thought it was Fon, except the child was a bit too tall.

When he saw the child use gyoza-ken (which was one of the more obscure styles Fon had shown him as a joke once) he knew this little one had to know his teacher.

"Excuse me, are you looking for the Hibari household?" he asked.

The kid looked at him, and he knew right away they needed glasses. They were squinting like crazy.

Obvious connection to Fon, wearing familiar clothing, using Gyoza-Ken, and squinting from a lack of corrective lenses... Tsuna had the feeling he knew who this was.

" _Are you I-Pin?"_ he asked slowly in Chinese. Fon had been teaching him along with Kempo, but he rarely got to use it so he wasn't as fluent as he was in Italian.

The girl nodded, clearly surprised at hearing him speak her native tongue.

" _Who are you?"_

" _My name is Tsuna. I'm a part-time student of Master Fon,"_ he replied. Those were among the few sentences he could say without worry of mangling it.

I-Pin blinked, before she smiled.

" _I am here on assignment. Could use help finding target."_

Tsuna felt a chill go down his spine. The way she said target had a lot of implications he didn't like. The same way he really didn't like how Lambo was so blasé about throwing grenades around or shooting guns into the air without caring about where the bullets went.

" _Would you like to stay at my house while we find your target?"_ he asked slowly, already mentally trying to remember Fon's number. No way in _hell_ was he letting a little girl kill someone if he could stop it. And he had the feeling she'd listen to Fon.

He didn't seem the type to send children on assassination missions.

I-Pin sat in his arms rather happily. She was rather tired from her journey, and Tsuna was really nice. Plus he recognized her as a student of Fon right off and spoke her native language, which meant he could be trusted.

Tsuna immediately started pulling out ingredients for a simple Chinese dish he knew he could make, while trying to figure out the last two digits of Fon's number.

Then he mentally kicked himself, because he almost forgot Fon had video chat set up. Mostly so he could teach Tsuna how to fight from wherever he was working from when he had free time. Even if he had to spend a few days correcting him when he visited during the summer.

" _What do you like to drink?"_

" _Do you have any tea?"_

Tsuna smiled and pulled out a bottle of cold green tea. Considering how warm she was earlier, he didn't think she'd enjoy a fresh pot of hot tea. Poor thing must have been exhausted.

Tsuna was in luck... Fon was online at the moment.

He brought the laptop downstairs and made sure I-Pin could sit next to him while he called her teacher.

" _Ah, Tsuna. What news do you have today?"_ asked Fon pleasantly.

He reached down and put I-Pin on his lap.

"Does this belong to you?" he asked mock-serious.

Fon's expression almost went completely flat. Tsuna could tell from his eyes he was pissed about something.

" _Indeed she does. May I inquire why my current apprentice is in your house?"_

"She said something about a 'target', and considering what Reborn said about your profession..." said Tsuna. He really didn't need to explain further.

" _I see. Would you mind terribly about watching her for me until I get this straightened up?"_

Tsuna beamed at him.

"Not at all. I'm sure Mama would love to have a little girl to spoil until you call again and I had a feeling that this wasn't something you had agreed to considering her age."

Left unspoken was that if he _had_ agreed to this, then Tsuna would have cut him off from his life completely. There were certain things Tsuna would never tolerate... child assassins was one of them.

Fon said something in Chinese Tsuna couldn't quite catch, but he could make a general guess. It was probably something along the lines of "behave for Tsuna while I straighten this out".

I-Pin nodded from her spot on Tsuna's lap, somewhat relieved her teacher was hopefully going to cancel the assignment. She really didn't want to have to fight a bunch of adults.

Nana was _very_ enthusiastic about their new guest. She always wanted a little girl to spoil rotten, and I-Pin was absolutely adorable. Even if Reborn had to act as translator, because the poor dear hadn't quite mastered Japanese.

Seeing little I-Pin join the pile of children on her son's bed, she had to hide a smile.

* * *

Two days later Fon called back.

" _I've had a word with the fool who sent her after the target. It won't happen again."_

Tsuna had a sigh of relief.

"Let me guess... you want her to stay here and have an actual childhood, rather than risk it happening a second time."

" _Please,"_ said Fon, obviously relieved Tsuna hadn't even needed to hear his request.

"Just one request though... can you seal that 'gift' of hers first?" asked Tsuna, almost twitching at the memory of it.

That had come as an unexpected shock. If Reborn hadn't said something, it would have been a total disaster.

Lambo, being a precocious little boy, had managed to set off I-Pin's natural gift of being able to blow herself up without harm. Takeshi had managed to catch her, but since she was still a child it meant a lot of chances for something to go wrong.

Fon hid a smile behind his long sleeve.

" _I'll come when I have time. With any luck I should be free to visit next month. Word of warning though... I-Pin has a bit of a crush on me since she mistook me for someone her own age."_

Tsuna openly winced.

Translation: keep her far, far away from Hibari until Fon sealed her gift. With how similar they were in looks and her nearsightedness, she would easily mistake the two.

He did not want to be bitten to death because a little girl had a crush on Fon.

Fon said something to I-Pin, and you could see her shocked expression turn to something much happier. She liked being in this home, because the people were warm and kind. Even if Lambo was an idiot.

"You do realize that there's a risk I'll 'corrupt her with music', as Reborn calls it."

Fon smiled with open amusement.

" _It's a small price to pay to protect her innocence. I'd rather she acquire a taste for classical music than have her light dimmed so young,"_ said Fon, shaking with mirth.

"From what future Lambo said, she has a knack for the violin," said Tsuna.

" _Have fun,"_ said Fon.

I-Pin looked at Tsuna expectantly. Fon-shifu had told her to stay with Tsuna until he arrived. She had noticed he had some odd habits...like the fixation on music.

Tsuna picked I-Pin up with ease and settled her on his shoulders.

" _So I-Pin...want to join me for some fun with my friends?"_

The little girl happily sat on his shoulders as they went to Takesushi. Even Lambo was there, behaving for once. Tsuna sat her down next to him and Reborn, who had a pot of coffee going.

What happened next was magical, in her opinion. Tsuna began playing on the instrument and magic came out. She was entranced, even if she couldn't see it properly. The flute needed more practice, and the trumpet was acceptable, but it was the violin that had her attention.

She wanted to learn that.

Tsuna looked down when he felt something tug on his leg.

I-Pin babbled something in Chinese, and he looked at Reborn expectantly.

"She wants to know how to play the instrument," he translated. "And you should really learn how to speak Chinese better."

"I have the feeling I'll be getting more practice anyway. I'm a bit rusty since I only ever used it around Fon when he visited," said Tsuna.

Tsuna bent down and patted I-Pin on the head.

"If you want to learn, I can teach you," said Tsuna, which Reborn translated for her. I-Pin nodded enthusiastically.

Tsuna made a mental note to find out where to find an eye doctor so I-Pin could get children's contacts. If she was responsible enough to learn martial arts from Fon, she could probably handle those.

Within a week, his habit of corrupting others to music had struck again. Though to be fair, I-Pin figured out how to read his books faster than Takeshi or Ryohei had.

* * *

Fon was quickly intercepted by Reborn the second the Sun knew he was in town.

"What can you give me on Tsuna's _actual_ skills? His file is less than useless."

Fon blinked, but his usual serene smile came upon his face.

"I take it you accidentally set off the time bomb that is his home situation."

"Yes."

"Please tell me you recorded it. I've been waiting for that to go off ever since I found out Tsuna honestly thinks his father is long dead."

"You give me an assessment and I'll share the video."

"Deal. Tsuna, as you've probably noticed, is an avid fan of music. What you likely haven't seen yet is that he has the natural ability to recreate any song he hears... I once let him hear an old record of some lost music and he was able to recreate them perfectly, down to the scores. I also suspect the _only_ reason he hasn't made Kyouya, Takeshi and Ryohei his guardians yet is because there is a seal in place. One that was put there shortly after he became active, because there is no way someone is that clumsy naturally," said Fon scowling.

Seals like that were only to be used as _punishment_ , and for damn good reason. Flames were the embodiment of the soul, a manifestation of the very _self_ inside a person. To seal it away, especially when it was done to someone who was Active... it locked away a lot of their potential and made them very vulnerable.

To say nothing of the sheer damage it would cause an Active Sky to be sealed, especially as young as Tsuna was.

It was no wonder the boy was positively skittish and shied away from attracting attention. He knew something was wrong and that he was too weak to defend himself, regardless of how much work Fon put into his self-defense skills.

If Fon ever found out what idiot did that to a child, he would kill them. He didn't give a damn what the Vindice might do in the aftermath.

Though odds were they'd give their blessing. Sealing an Active Sky without cause was almost certainly going to piss them off, especially if they could prove Tsuna had been Active when the seal was put into place.

He was a _civilian_ and not even sixteen yet. There was almost no way he could have done something so horrible that it warranted such a thing.

"His skill with martial arts is good... but it could be better. And his Chinese is passable."

"He's getting more fluent, and I-Pin is learning Japanese almost as fast as she is learning how to play the scales on the small violin I managed to get her."

Reborn had earned a lot of brownie points, handing that over to the little girl (once she had a proper set of contacts anyway). Violins were expensive, and well above the price range of what Tsuna could afford with his limited allowance.

Though admittedly Nana had increased it twice over when she found out her son wasn't actually _bad_ at his homework, he just refrained from excelling in school because that meant bringing himself to the attention of the very people who had made his life hell for years, Teachers included.

Finding out Tsuna had been holding back a _lot_ for fear of his tormentors had clearly hurt his mother. Mostly because she had been too blind to realize that there was something wrong in the first place. Most of the damage had been done because people quickly realized no one was going to call them on their behavior or demand they stop.

"I'm bringing Shamal in soon. He called in to ask for a place to hide, since apparently he pissed off the wrong woman again," said Reborn.

Shamal was a Mist, but more importantly he was a mafia-trained Doctor. If anyone could detect a seal on Tsuna, and roughly how old it was, then it was him.

And heaven help the one who did it, because Fon wasn't the only one who was pissed about the possibility of a seal being placed on a child without cause.

Fon was greeted with open enthusiasm, and promptly took a spot in the growing pile that was originally Tsuna's bed.

He had a new bunk bed, which Hayato _did_ occasionally use when he was up late working on something and was too tired to dislodge the kids, but apparently the Storm was something of a cuddler and Tsuna didn't really care one way or another on the matter.

(When asked about why he generally snuggled against Tsuna every night rather than sleep in the spare room, Hayato openly admitted he was afraid he'd wake up one day and find out that he was still in Italy to Reborn. It was like a dream, having friends like this and not having to worry about his sister trying to drag him back to a family that hated him to begin with.)


	8. Chapter 8

Kyouya was _not happy_ learning Fon was in town, but his annoyance was soothed upon learning Fon was more interested in staying in Tsuna's home rather than his own manor.

Considering the mess that he left upon finding out I-Pin had been sent out on a contracted hit _before_ her basic training was even remotely completed (several Triad bases were under major renovation after Fon made his opinion clear), Fon pretty much had plenty of free time to have an extended stay in Namimori.

Oh, he'd still act under contract if asked (and given a bonus, since he was still very angry about the matter), but for now his schedule was pleasantly free of any duties.

Which meant he could train I-Pin and by extension Tsuna.

Ryohei quickly joined in on their morning training, mostly because he was usually up before the sun rose anyway.

About a week after Fon made it clear he would be staying in Japan for a while, Shamal showed up.

He did not make a good first impression, but at least Tsuna hadn't tried to throw him out on sight like he had Bianchi, who was slowly working her way from the fringes of the group into their favor.

They quickly figured out that if she wore something to cover up half her face (top or bottom it didn't matter), Hayato didn't have _nearly_ as bad a reaction to her presence. Tsuna was hopeful that gradual exposure and being around people who actually gave a damn about how he was feeling would help overcome that particular trauma.

And almost immediately after poking Tsuna with his Flames, Shamal delivered his verdict.

"The kid has a Sky seal on him. Fairly old... eight or nine years at the very least and done by someone who didn't want _any_ of his Flames to be used."

Reborn and Fon had identical pissed off expressions.

That would meant someone had deliberately sealed a five or six year old child. Too young to have actually done something to warrant it.

Reborn was already calling Timoteo for an explanation. He had thought Tsuna simply had trouble access his Flames because he had been a civilian for most of his life...to find out the entire problem was a _seal_ that was placed on a child... someone was going to pay for this.

Tsuna was very confused, but fortunately Fon knew exactly how to distract him.

Though they all felt it when Reborn's fury filled the room. He was going to have to replace that phone, because he almost completely destroyed it in his anger.

"What's wrong?" asked Tsuna.

"It seems a certain idiot demanded that your Flames be sealed when you were five. He had Nono place the seal citing that you would be 'better off' instead of insuring you had proper training and guardians," said Reborn furious.

Fon's face went blank, though he was clearly pissed off about that as well.

"Does Vongola Nono realize that if the the Alliance catches wind of what he's done, there's going to be hell to pay? To say nothing of what the Vindice might do if they found out," said Fon.

"He either hasn't considered it yet, or he doesn't care. Either way I've made it clear that if he doesn't come here within the next few months to remove the seal, I _will_ be breaking my contract with the Vongola."

Train a civilian kid into taking over one of the strongest and most feared familigias in the world? He'd pull it off or retire.

Train a boy who had been sealed for absolutely no reason whatsoever simply because his father was stupid enough to think that was a viable option for keeping his wife and son out of the mafia?

There were some things Reborn wouldn't tolerate, and that level of sheer stupidity was one of them. Either Nono removed what he did to his last remaining heir or Reborn was going to break the contract and contact Viper to let the Alliance and the Vindice know what he had done.

And if the Arcobaleno were pissed on Tsuna's behalf, it was nothing to how angry Dino was when he found out the news.

"You know at this rate I think Tsuna would be better off being a violinist than a mafia boss. At least music hasn't tried to screw him over this badly," said Dino fuming.

"If I can't find any more decent Guardians once the seal is removed I am seriously considering sending him to Vienna," said Reborn flatly.

"Why Vienna?" asked Dino.

"Because there is a world famous music school there," replied Reborn. "And from what I've seen, Tsuna's main problem is with the potential 'audience' he would have in Namimori, rather than actual stage fright."

Tsuna could perform in front of perfect strangers without hesitation, but bring in anyone from his school and he had a bad habit of going into flight mode.

Playing gave the kid confidence and made it easy to bribe him into more or less humoring Reborn's usual tricks. And after finding out there was an actual reason for his skittish behavior beyond just intensive bullying, Reborn was more inclined to go a little easy on the kid.

He wasn't an actual idiot, but he had learned to hide very well under his kitten exterior to the point he had fooled even Reborn until he brought in the Storm kid.

He was the sort of threat that no one would see coming.

Tsuna visibly perked up at the idea of a music school. The only one of his friends/Guardians that could remotely keep up with him at all was Hayato, which he found somewhat disappointing.

At least Reborn had managed to find some actual teachers for Ryohei and Takeshi. Their playing was improving in leaps and bounds rather than the slow pace they had originally. Tsuna had gone to a teacher at Reborn's suggestion and was told that he had more or less learned anything that could have been taught, and that the rest was just fine-tuning at this point.

"Speaking of... think you could play for my guys? Some of them have been complaining for over a week that they missed the impromptu show and that the others have been bragging about it..." asked Dino somewhat embarrassed.

"Wonder how they'd react to the full quartet," mused Tsuna. Ryohei and Takeshi were able to keep up with most of the songs now, though it was more of a hobby for them than it was Hayato and Tsuna.

"I swear you're corrupting your Guardians with music," muttered Reborn.

"So? Mama corrupts everyone who comes often to our house with her cooking. How is playing for them any different?" asked Tsuna, raising an eyebrow.

Reborn conceded his point.

* * *

Tsuna was still confused what he was doing in a high scale restaurant that mostly catered to foreigners. Particularly Europeans.

Hayato looked just as baffled, but took his spot at the grand piano near the center of the restaurant while Tsuna stood to the side with his violin.

Come to think of it, most of the people looked like they were Italian...

Tsuna shot a dark look to Reborn, who was sitting on the piano with his espresso.

"Okay, please tell me this isn't something mafia related."

"No, this is to prove you don't have actually have stage fright. Besides, you're getting paid depending on how well you do."

Tsuna glared at him, before sighing.

"Did they have any requests?"

Reborn immediately held out a list. There were a lot of difficult songs on there for someone who didn't know what they were doing. Tsuna memorized the list, before handing it back. He nodded to Hayato, who looked it over for a good five minutes before nodding back.

Tsuna put his bow to the strings, and smoothly began to play, with Hayato silently following his lead.

Complete silence. Not of the people in the restaurant spoke as the two played.

During the entire thing, Reborn was gauging how Tsuna was doing... and found to his surprise that he could feel small bits and pieces of pure Sky flame accompanying the notes. It mingled with the recently awakened Storm flames Hayato had.

It seemed even with the seal, Tsuna was instinctively fighting it the only way he could...by playing music.

Which meant that he could weaken it, possibly to breaking on it's own if he kept pushing the boy with his special bullets and by getting him to play in front of others more.

He wondered what would happen if Tsuna played with his 'band'. Sure, Ryohei and Takeshi were rough but they still followed Tsuna's lead.

When Tsuna paused to take a break, he was greatly startled by the sound of applause.

Reborn smirked.

"Definitely not stage fright," he said pleased.

Now he was sure of it... Tsuna's only issue with public playing was the _audience_ , not the fact he was playing in front of others. That made things much more simple.

Tsuna was quite surprised to see how much cash he earned playing just for a night. Hayato, not so much.

* * *

There was a knock at the door, which had Tsuna frowning. He had been playing "Shatter Me" without the vocals with the door open to let the breeze in.

There was a red head at the door with a box.

"Can I help you?" asked Tsuna.

The red head blinked for a moment before he had to ask...

"Was that Lindsey Stirling? I thought that song was one of the few ones that came with vocals."

Tsuna perked up.

"You like music too?"

"Absolutely. Irie Shōichi. Um, someone dropped this at my house and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with it."

Tsuna looked at the box and sighed.

"Did a five year old in a cow onesie happen to be blown into your house by any chance?"

"Last week."

"Come on in. So what genres do you like?" asked Tsuna.

"A lot of them, I guess. It's hard to find people who are very enthusiastic about music without taking it way too seriously."

"Tell me about it. The only reason I'm not in band or the orchestra club is because I can't stand my classmates who only care about competitions or getting their parents off their back, rather than for the actual love of the music itself," said Tsuna.

"So what's the deal with the kid anyway?"

"Long story short, some idiot thought it was a _bright_ idea to give a hyper five year old access to low grade explosives. I still don't know how he survives being blown up so often, but it's a complete pain confiscating his weapons without Lambo somehow finding them anyway. And somehow he always has more hidden in his hair," said Tsuna exasperated. "I swear he has a Hammer Space linked to that poofy hair of his."

Shōichi snickered.

Tsuna managed to get most of the items in the box out, though obviously some of the cash had been used to repair Shōichi's wall...not that he could blame them. Then he spotted something that made him groan in annoyance.

"Okay, who the hell thought sending more of those stupid things was a smart move? He's annoying enough without adding these to the mix!" complained Tsuna, pulling out a pink bomb.

"What is that?"

"Ten Year Bazooka ammunition," said Tsuna without thinking. "If you get hit by one, you end up ten years in the future for five minutes while your future self is swapped out."

"Really?" said Shōichi with open interest. "How does that work? I mean is there time sand or something, or do they use some form of quantum physics..."

Tsuna blinked.

"Just out of curiosity are you a fan of Einstein by any chance?"

"Not really, why?"

"Because from what I remember in the history texts, Einstein was a fan of music on top of being a world famous scientist. The only reason I remembered him at all was because I remember reading he played the violin."

"Hey boss! Who's this?" asked Hayato.

"Hayato, meet Irie Shōichi. Shōichi, this is my friend Hayato...also my pianist. I swear I'm slowly building my own orchestra," said Tsuna with amusement.

"Really?" perked up Shōichi. "I play a bit of the guitar, but mostly I just tinker with things."

"Tinker how?" asked Hayato.

Which got him an in-depth explanation of some device he had made that actually worked and had Tsuna shoving _all_ the extra ammo for the Ten Year Bazooka on Shōichi to play with.

Maybe if he figured out how they worked, he could find a way to make it last longer...or nullify the effects.

"You sure it's okay giving me these?"

"It's not like you could possibly cause as much havoc as Lambo does with the stupid things. And from what I've seen you at least look competent enough to understand how they work."

"Tsuna, are you sure about that?" asked Hayato nervously.

"Well who's to say Shōichi didn't accidentally leave the ammo at home when he returned the box to us, and happened to tinker with them out of curiosity? If anyone asks it's the Bovino's fault for showing up without a proper explanation and leaving that ammo in there in the first place," said Tsuna without any sympathy.

"True. So what instrument do you play?" asked Hayato.

"Huh?"

"Well Tsuna plays the violin, I play piano, and he (Tsuna grinned) has a habit of getting his friends hooked on music to the point they took up instruments."

"Oh. I dabble with the guitar sometimes."

"Are you any good with a computer and music programs?" asked Tsuna, eyes gleaming as an idea came to mind.

"I'm a hacker, though I've never really messed with a music program."

Tsuna's grin was almost evil. Oddly, Shōichi didn't feel the least bit of apprehension.

"Well... I was thinking, what if we had someone who could translate our music into CD's and start a proper band?" said Tsuna.

It would be a nice side job and with any luck they'd be popular enough that he wouldn't _need_ the Vongola. After all, there was every chance it wouldn't pan out in the end and he'd rather have something to fall back on other than entertaining in concert halls.

Not to mention bands had more opportunities to make large amounts of cash, if only from the sales of paraphernalia and concert tickets.

Shōichi looked interested at the idea. He would be the first to admit he wasn't that good at playing the guitar...however he _was_ good at computer programs and it meant he got to enjoy music for free.

Once again Tsuna had corrupted his friends with music. Even if this particular friend had some far reaching consequences and headaches attached...


	9. Chapter 9

Shōichi came to the house, somewhat in a panic.

"What is it?"

"I screwed up. Big time."

Tsuna looked at him, before offering a chair. Hayato was heading back with some sushi (and Takeshi), while Reborn was out shopping with Mama because he wanted specific coffee beans.

"What happened?"

Shōichi looked miserable.

"I accidentally set off one of those weird bomb things you let me keep. I found myself in an engineering university and ran into someone before the time limit expired. I wasn't too happy about that, so I decided I wouldn't pursue engineering because I really want to make music my life. Tried again, and found my future self worked in a run-down bar and then it happened."

"You ran into the same guy?" guessed Tsuna.

"Except he somehow _recognized_ me. It almost looked like he had a headache or something and suddenly he knew who I was. After that happened, the two times I tried again to study the effects of the ammo, I found myself in futures that didn't look very good at all for anyone!"

Tsuna stared...and stared... Shōichi was starting to think the other boy wouldn't believe his story.

"Ten year bazooka my ass! This sounds more like it's dragging people from _parallel_ time lines rather than a set future!" said Tsuna.

Shōichi relaxed. Tsuna believed him.

"This guy you ran into, did he have a name?"

"Byakuran. He was weird... a natural albino with lavender eyes and a strange tattoo on his check under the left eye. He also wore a lot of white."

"I'll ask Reborn if he knows anyone by that name. In the meantime, you want to stay the night? We have a spare bed you can borrow, since for some reason Hayato rarely uses the bunk bed at all."

"Will your parents mind?"

"Mama won't care...she'll just be happy I have friends over at all," said Tsuna dismissively. "And the kids usually dog pile in my bed anyway."

Besides, he was using Shoichi's presence to get some extra sleep in. He highly doubted Reborn would risk exposing a civilian to the craziness without damn good reason.

Mama was happy to have Shōichi over. Even if he had to explain to his parents about the impromptu sleepover...they seemed relieved to see him socializing with someone his own age.

"Seriously, you don't have to go to such extremes. You enjoy tinkering and inventing, and with you have an ear for good music. No one said you have to give up one for the other, and with how much musicians and bands make these days you could probably fund your research through the music business," said Tsuna reasonably.

Shōichi paused on his laptop...he had found a few music programs on the deep web and was actually looking at the teen.

"I never thought of it like that. I mean with how much the popular bands make from CD sales and from selling signed t-shirts you could really easily pay for technology research while waiting for the patents to kick in and fund it even more..." said Shōichi thoughtfully.

"And that way you wouldn't have to give up either hobby!" said Tsuna enthusiastically.

"Tsuna, you better not be trying to get out of..." warned Reborn.

"It's called having a fall back option... or stress release. After all, who would expect the head of the Vongola to be a popular musician?" said Tsuna.

Reborn stared at him hard, before conceding the point. It was a very good cover just in case.

He still wasn't letting Tsuna just walk out on being Decimo though. Not a chance in hell.

Though one thing bothered him.

"How exactly would you know you'd end up in an engineering school and then in a bar?" asked Reborn suspiciously.

Shōichi saw the dangerous look in Reborn's eyes, so he used the story Tsuna came up with to explain why he had kept the ammo.

"The cow kid... Lambo? He crashed in my room and some people came to the door with a box. I brought it back here, but I forgot to pack it all away first. Then I tripped on one of the ammo and it went off," said Shōichi.

Which was what happened, just that he hadn't forgotten to pack everything up.

"Tsuna..." growled Reborn.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm not the idiot who packed extra ammo for that blasted bazooka and handed it over to a civilian!" said Tsuna flatly. "If you want to bitch someone out, then complain to the Bovino!"

"Hmm. You present a valid point. Excuse me while I borrow the phone," said Reborn crossly.

Tsuna watched him leave.

"Now that his anger has been redirected at someone else..." grinned Tsuna, pulling out his violin. "What's your favorite song?"

Shōichi blinked, before he grinned.

"I am a huge fan of Blood & Peppers," he said.

"Lindsey Stirling, all the way. _Master of Tides_ was such a pain to get the hang of, but soooo worth it. Especially the video!"

"Really?" Shōichi perked up.

Tsuna grinned and began playing. It was hellishly complicated, especially since he barely had any idea if he was doing it right, but eventually he got to the point he didn't even need the sheet music anymore.

After all, he had no friends until recently and even less desire to be around others who only mocked him for being "Dame Tsuna". And thanks to Kyouya he had a place he could practice in peace, which meant his skill levels went up exponentially.

He still maintained that Kyouya would make one hell of a drummer, considering he liked to beat upon things so much and was very quick.

Something that endlessly amused Fon when he first heard that.

But no, being part of the band was too "herbivore" for Kyouya's liking, regardless of what he put up with when they practiced. One day, one day he'd trick the Cloud into joining them and he'd be unbearably smug about the whole thing for _days_.

And that would be before he got the blackmail pictures for Fon. Gods know the Chinese Arcobaleno would pay a _fortune_ just to see Kyouya joining in!

Hmm...there was an idea.

"Uh-oh. I know that look and I want nothing to do with it," said Hayato immediately.

"What look?" asked Tsuna innocently.

"That devious expression on your face saying you're about to get someone _else_ roped into playing an instrument with us," deadpanned Hayato.

Tsuna beamed at him and he shuddered.

"Kyouya and a Japanese drum... you know the kind they play at festivals or temple shrines during Obon?"

Hayato opened his mouth, before he looked thoughtful.

"Oddly enough I can actually see that one," he admitted. "Be a monumental pain in the ass to lug around though."

"I sense chaos and I want in."

Shōichi shrieked at the sudden reappearance of Reborn.

Tsuna beamed at the Suns.

"How hard would it be to trick Kyouya into trying out a Japanese drum... you know, one of those big monstrosities that they play during Obon and big festivals?"

Reborn groaned.

"You're planning to corrupt another one of your Guardians... isn't it bad enough you already roped a civilian in?"

"To be fair, he was already interested in music but didn't have a proper outlet," said Tsuna.

"You are still never getting me to sing, brat," said Reborn.

Tsuna snickered evilly.

"We'll see about that."

* * *

"No. Absolutely not."

Tsuna turned up the puppy dog eyes.

"Come on Kyouya, just think about it! You know how they usually set up those drums... you'd be high up enough that you could ignore the crowding, and if someone pissed you off enough you could drop on them like a bird of prey!"

Kyouya considered that aspect, but the answer was still the same. Despite how appealing the idea of "death from above" was.

"Just take a few lessons and I'll drop it. I won't even tell _him_ where you're practicing if you'll humor me."

"I do this and you drop the matter?"

Tsuna nodded rapidly. He wanted a percussion to add to his growing band.

"Fine, but this does not reach that damn carnivore or I _will_ bite you to death."

Anything to get out of Tsuna's crazy scheme to match up his Guardians with instruments so they could play together.

The first lesson was almost a disaster, if only because Kyouya hated crowding and being told what to do. The second one was interesting, because they gave him the sticks and showed him how to hit the drum.

By the fourth he was hooked and torn between biting Tsuna for this or continuing his new hobby.

He did both. Mostly because he caught sight of a few photos of him actually using a Japanese drum in Fon's possession.

He still kept up the lessons though, if only to keep Tsuna from coming up with a more insane idea again...

* * *

"What's with the case, kora?" demanded the Rain Arcobaleno.

"Dammit Tsuna, I told you to leave it behind!" complained Reborn.

"Not a chance on your life," Tsuna shot back. "I for one refuse to leave this behind, especially since I could corrupt more people with it."

Reborn looked at him exasperated.

"On your own head be it if it gets damaged."

Colonello watched as the kid opened up the case to reveal... a violin? An old, well used one anyway.

"Considering the alternative title for 'Guardians' is Elements..." said Tsuna, mostly to himself. He put the bow to the string and in no time at all he had both the Arcobaleno sitting quietly, just listening.

"He's good, kora. What song is that?"

" _Elements_ , by Lindsey Stirling. It sounds better with the rest of the instruments, but I've got most of her songs down pretty much by heart. You two are long time rivals, right?" grinned Tsuna, switching to another song. This one Reborn recognized, if only because Tsuna played it often.

He snorted.

" _Roundtable Rival_ ," he clarified for Colonello's benefit. "I'll let you play one more song, but then you have to do the training courses. If you're quick you can show off your skills some more later."

Tsuna pouted, but at least he got to play for an appreciative audience...and Reborn. He eyed Colonello briefly before a thought came in his head. Reborn caught the look.

"Don't you _dare,_ Tsuna. I don't care what that damn cow told you, it's never going to happen."

"Do I want to know?" asked Colonello, eyeing the two.

"I have a long standing bet that one day I'll catch Reborn singing on tape," said Tsuna cheerfully. "Mostly because he refuses any instrument I tempt him with."

"The brat corrupted his guardians with classical music... he's even roping civilians now!" complained Reborn.

"Do you have any idea what a pain it was to get Kyouya to agree to it?" said Tsuna pouting.

"Reborn, sing? I'd pay to hear that, kora!" said Colonello vindictively. Reborn glowered at them both.

"You'll have to get in line then. Fon said that if I ever caught a recording of it that was for real, I could literally name any price with someone called Viper for the blackmail alone," grinned Tsuna.

"You could!" confirmed Colonello. He looked ready to laugh at the idea.

Tsuna played one last song, " _Shadows",_ before he put his instrument away.

"Just so we're clear, I can't really swim that well so tossing me over the cliffside will more than likely end with me drowning at the very least."

"We taught you how to swim earlier," said Reborn frowning.

"Yeah, if by teach you mean completely confused the hell out of me. I can handle a pool, but open ocean, with rip currents and gods know what else especially with the waves created by whatever machines get this island to move? I'd rather take my chances with land based creatures and humiliating obstacle courses."

"No complaining about the courses then," said Reborn, allowing it. The kid raised a valid point... if they were near the beach, then he'd force Tsuna to swim, but this close to the cliff face and he was more likely to get smashed against the rocks.

Of course he had to openly groan when not four hours later the annual invasion happened...and somehow Tsuna managed to put a stop to it simply by picking up his violin and playing over the loud speakers.

Reborn honestly had no idea that many mafioso were classical music fans. Then again, since a good portion of the more famous composers, musicians and even multiple music schools originated from Italy or close to it...

"...Did a fifteen year old with a violin just stop an entire invasion and shut up a ton of hardened mafia families just by playing?" asked Skull in disbelief. The kid was good, he'd admit that, but still.

Reborn groaned, especially when they found out Tsuna took requests and Hayato had brought his own instrument with him.

"I don't know whether to be impressed he figured out how to channel his Element's Flames into the violin, or to be appalled at how easily he diffused the idiots," said Colonello.

"What?" said Reborn.

Colonello blinked.

"You don't feel that? The kid's channeling pure Sky into his instrument, or maybe the bow and it's causing everyone to simmer down with how pure it is," said Colonello slowly. "And from what I can tell he's drawing in the Flames of his Elements... Storm and Lightning I think."

"Son of a... I suppose that's one way he could work around the seal..." muttered Reborn.

"Seal?" said Colonello sharply.

"Tsuna has a seal placed on him. His _father,_ and I hesitate to use the term, insisted on it saying a civilian wouldn't need flames rather than bothering to train him like he should. However it looks like his hobby is working around that problem... once it's gone I don't see him having any issues with bonding with his 'orchestra' as he's gleefully taken to calling them."

"Who's his old man?"

"Iemitsu Sawada."

"Oh man... Lal is going to be pissed," said Colonello with disgust. And there was no way he _wasn't_ mentioning this to her.

Either way, this changed a few things... like the fact he was going to be pushing Tsuna into learning how to channel his flames through his instrument (once he found out that could handle such a thing) the first chance he got.

If all else failed he'd have Leon eat it. The odd chameleon had a weird habit of imbuing special properties into things, like Dino's whip and the large number of bullets he had used over the years.

Tsuna was sure to be pissed if he let Leon eat his violin though. It was the only _good_ thing he had going for him.


	10. Chapter 10

**I will admit that this chapter accidentally inspired Coping Mechanisms. I couldn't resist when the idea came into my head. XD**

* * *

"Is this your doing Reborn?" asked Tsuna exasperated.

Reborn smirked.

The _Alognov_ _Talent Show_ had a decently high prize for civilians, enough to tempt a good chunk of the city.

And no, Tsuna wasn't fooled in the least by the fact that the name Vongola had been spelled backwards.

Also, his participation was mandatory.

"Just out of curiosity how many people can enter?"

Reborn's eyes gleamed, already seeing where Tsuna was heading without having to ask.

"Yes, you can drag the others down with you."

"Good. If I have to suffer through the idiots then they're damn well going to suffer with me," said Tsuna flatly. "On an unrelated note, can we do costumes?"

"I can get you in touch with the girl coordinating any potential costumes," agreed Reborn.

Miura Haru would probably love a challenge. Especially since Tsuna clearly wanted to drag Hibari down with him.

Putting him in something threatening might amuse him enough that he wouldn't bite Tsuna to death for dragging him into this. He had gotten good enough to keep up the pace Tsuna usually kept, since everyone else had a tendency to follow his lead first.

"No."

"You'll be in costume and kept well above the herbivores. If need be we can put you high enough that no one will actually see who's playing the drums," said Tsuna.

"I will not participate in such a herbivore activity."

Tsuna kept himself from scowling.

"It's either participate and avoid the majority of the crowding, or get stuck dealing with unruly idiots who will use it as an opportunity to get drunk. I have it on good authority that Reborn will be supplying booze for the idiots who think they can sing."

Hibari scowled.

"Give me a better reason."

"Do it and I'll fight you after. No holds barred and full contact."

Hibari blinked, before a slow smirk came upon his face.

"You have a deal. I expect you to hold up your end, omnivore."

"Oh, and if anyone tries to mess with the instruments you have my full blessing to bite them to death," said Tsuna.

Hibari's smirk was not for the faint of heart.

 _An hour later..._

"He's soooo cute!" gushed Haru.

"Hard to believe he's a grown man suffering from dwarfism," said Tsuna with a straight face.

"Dwarfism?" repeated Haru.

"A genetic condition that effects the body. I believe the popular slang is 'midget', though I find that rather degrading," replied Tsuna. "His mind is that of an adult, but because of his condition he looks like a child."

Reborn blinked...before kicking himself. Why had he never thought of using that excuse around civilians?!

"Let me guess, it's easier to pretend you're a kid than explain you're an adult?" said Haru with sympathy.

"That and I get better views," admitted Reborn.

At least she wouldn't be calling him Reborn-chan anymore...though it didn't stop them from exchanging costume ideas.

"Anyway about the one on the drums... it has to be something bird themed or at least an alpha predator. Or if need be you can turn him into a hedgehog or something."

Because Hibari would murder him otherwise.

"I can do a lion costume for you!" she chirped.

Tsuna grimaced. He knew what Iemitsu's nickname was and did _not_ want to be compared to that man. Ever. He still liked lions, but he didn't want anything to do with a lion costume.

"I could care less if you turned me into the white rabbit, or the Cheshire cat himself. No lions though. Tigers, on the other hand..." mused Tsuna. He could live with a tiger.

Haru's eyes gleamed.

"How many in your group?"

"At least four, but no more than five. And I will say that there is no way in hell you're getting us into any sentai costumes," said Tsuna immediately. "For one thing the helmets will make it very difficult for two members to actually perform."

"Let's see... oh, you're a classical music band performing certain songs right? Yeah, I could see that being a problem. Who's the leader of this group and which instruments?"

"I'm the unofficial leader, and the instruments are violin, keyboard, Japanese drum, flute and trumpet," said Tsuna with ease.

"Let's see... any preferences to costumes?"

"Not really, so long as it doesn't interfere with us playing," said Tsuna immediately.

"Well let's see what we have to work with. ...This is your band?" said Haru.

"Is something the matter?"

"Nothing~" she said.

Except that every member of his group was full of bishies, even the lone wolf who played the drum. Just looking at the drummer gave her ideas...

"Oh, just a little warning. Kyouya has a thing for his uniform and he likes to wear the jacket off his shoulders. He'll probably wear the armband regardless of what you have to say."

"Got it. I can work with this. What about the one with the scar?"

"Ryohei is a boxer. He's used to running around in shorts and gloves."

"I keep thinking kangaroo for some reason with him... Yeah, I think I have a solid idea of what to use. You don't mind animals right?"

"Anything but lion for me. It's not that I hate them, just that I don't want to give a certain idiot _ideas_ ," said Tsuna. "Also, if you could hide or partially obscure my face that would be great."

Haru was already jotting down design ideas. Tsuna was wonderfully easy to work with. Besides...she was being allowed to dress up bishies. Who would say no to that?

* * *

"...You're a cat."

"A leopard, to be precise," said Reborn with glee. Who knew Tsuna had a hidden love for cosplay?

Then again... dressing up meant hiding who he was from his bullies. But still, the kid had successfully cross dressed as a girl just to practice his violin.

Reborn was going to have fun honing that trick.

Tsuna made a ridiculously cute girl. So much so that Reborn had openly called him jail bait...right before using him in a prank on Shamal.

It was worth every moment of having to go through the ordeal with Haru using him as a dress up dummy just to see the look on Shamal's face when he found out the "girl" he was hitting on was a cross dressing Tsuna.

He had copies of the blackmail photos Reborn took. The fake baby was still snickering at some of them.

"Ready for your debute?" asked Reborn.

"Shōichi has his camera ready, if only so we can prove we're not making this up," said Tsuna.

"What?"

"Nothing... Fon mentioned someone he knew and said we should have a video tape for proof."

Meaning he was going to approach Mammon for a new source of a lot of money, and he needed to prove the boys could actually _play_ like they claimed.

Odds were the miser would jump at the chance, since the boy didn't really care about the money so long as they could play. Oh, they'd argue for Shōichi (he was planning to use it to fund his research after all), but for the most part they really didn't care.

After all, Tsuna was stuck being groomed as the Decimo Vongola, who were beyond rich. This was more of a hobby for him.

"So what exactly did you go with?" asked Tsuna, before he stared. "Are you serious?"

Haru's eyes gleamed.

"You said I had free reign on the costumes so long as it didn't interfere with playing," she reminded him.

"What the hell are those?" asked Reborn, baffled.

As one, the teens turned to Look at him with something akin to disbelief and pity.

Haru was the first to speak.

"Okay, now I completely believe you when you said he was actually an adult who suffers from a genetic condition and not an actual infant."

"Told you," said Tsuna, almost smug.

In his hands was a mask that looked almost identical to an Arcanine, except the red was more predominant than normal. That belong to Hayato's outfit.

Tsuna had one as well, though his made him look like a Shiny Celebi, since the coloring was in shades of orange.

Ryohei's costume looked a lot like a Kangaskhan, while Takashi had an Articuno costume.

And Hibari? Well he got a Houndoom outfit. It was either that or a Murkrow.

"You didn't answer my question," said Reborn.

"Seriously, how do you not know what a Gen One Pokémon looks like?" asked Tsuna.

Pikachu might be one of the unofficial "mascot" of the series, but the fact Reborn didn't recognize _any_ of them despite being slightly modified spoke volumes about the fact he was _old_.

Tsuna had a sudden thought, and sent a text to Fon. Tsuna grinned.

"Tsuna, who are you texting?" asked Reborn dangerously.

Then he heard the sound of someone laughing, hard, and the two turned.

Apparently Fon had come to watch the show and visit I-Pin.

Fon managed to contain his chuckles long enough to see the costumes for himself.

Calling Reborn an "old codger" behind his back was a brave move... and the irony was that he couldn't deny it because Reborn _was_ the oldest out of them before the curse hit!

"Very nicely done. I take it Kyouya is the Houndoom?" asked Fon amused.

"It was either that or a Murkrow," confirmed Haru.

"He likely wouldn't have minded being a Murkrow," said Fon. "You could have also gotten away with the black Mega Charizard or even a Mega Tyranitar... though I think the Mega Gyarados was poorly done."

The two teens nodded in complete agreement. Reborn looked beyond confused as to what they were talking about.

"I'm lost."

Fon grinned at him, and he had the distinct feeling he was the butt of some unknown joke. It made him want to pull out a gun and shoot the Storm.

"It's alright if you don't understand, Reborn. After all, it can't be expected for an _old man_ to keep up with modern entertainment," said Fon with perfect sincerity.

Which only set Tsuna off laughing.

Reborn growled.

"What are you talking about?" asked Hayato, who came in when he heard the laughter. Then he saw the costumes and grinned. "Nice. Which one's mine?"

"You're Arcanine. Takeshi's Articuno, Ryohei's Kangaskhan, and I'm Celebi."

"Hibari's Houndoom then?"

Tsuna nodded.

Hayato grinned.

"I think the others are going to get a kick out of this," he said snickering.

"Reborn has no idea what we're talking about either. I wonder if Bianchi knows her 'lover' is much older than she originally assumed," Tsuna added with open glee.

Hayato guffawed and was immediately sharing that news with his sister. He always found her 'obsession' with Reborn more than a bit disturbing.

(The sight of Bianchi trying to explain what Pokémon was to Reborn later that night had most of the kids watching the very confused Sun with a mixture of pity and trying not to laugh. Either way, the second Viper heard what was going on they got a very good laugh out of it on top of agreeing to act as the boy's manager for the entertainment alone.)

* * *

They went up, wearing their costumes (much to the amusement of everyone watching...) and Tsuna was just glad Haru had given him a proper mask. He recognized some of the jerks from his class out there.

He had to wonder... why Celebi? Not that he had anything against the little fairy Pokémon, but he was curious as to Haru's reasoning for making him the time traveling forest sprite.

Imagine his surprise when there was a clear cry for an encore. Hibari was not very amused, but the others were all for it.

Tsuna had no idea what to play... they hadn't anticipated that the crowd would like them enough to demand a fourth song on top of the three they had to play throughout the competition to win.

As he put the bow to the strings, he decided to wing it. It wasn't something he did often because of how weird it felt. It always felt like something caged inside him was surging, demanding to be set free from the confines of his body and damn what he had to say about it. A fire that seemed to come from the depths of his very soul.

It almost scared him.

He decided to focus on each of his Guardians individually, unaware of the fact his eyes were starting to glow amber from within.

Hayato was first. The boy was a raging Storm, but under all his gruff exterior and almost Tsundere nature (he long suspected Hayato had a thing for Takeshi but was too "manly" to admit it, even to himself...it would explain so much) was the beating and loyal heart of someone who had been abused and kicked to the curb far too often by those who didn't deserve his trust. Someone who could wax on and on about something silly with open enthusiasm and far too much jargon, and who looked deliriously happy when someone took his words _seriously_ , rather than dismiss him like everyone else.

There was a pulse of red and a few slivers of other colors that seemed to mix with the amber-orange Tsuna had around him.

He focused on Takeshi next.

The teen was like the calming waves that could turn deadly in an instant. There was so much depth to his soul that only needed someone brave enough to take a leap of faith and see it for what it was. There was a darkness, yes, but it could hold something beautiful if you were willing to risk it. The crushing depths that would destroy anything that harmed those he cared about, hidden by the almost gentle waves above.

Blue and a hint of indigo mixed into the amber now.

Ryohei was next.

He was a fiery passion that hid a genuine exterior that loved and adored his family and close friends. He didn't care how 'extreme' he was, he was the roaring _heat_ that burned all enemies to a crisp and the gentle sunlight that healed over the wounds of his allies. A true fighter who understood what honor _really_ meant.

A bright golden color took it's place among the amber.

Hibari... Hibari was both easy and difficult at the same time.

Wild and free and uncontrolled, he was the untamed beast that you could only pet if he deemed you worthy and allowed you the honor. One that would defend his people and his territory with the ferocity of a tiger or a dragon and leave nothing but absolute devastation in his wake. But if he deemed you worthy of his loyalty... there wasn't a stronger ally you could possibly have. Even if it risked being bitten to death when he was in one of his moods.

Strong violet purple and almost vibrant indigo collided with the amber, briefly trying to dominate the color, only to coil around it like a contented cat.

Tsuna had been so preoccupied with just _playing_ he missed the looks on the faces of his friends, or the fact they naturally fell in line with him without even noticing. The entire crowd listened with baited breath while the Arcobaleno were exchanging covert glances with each other.

There was no way they could mistake that feeling. Tsuna's violin music was allowing him to _harmonize_ with his Guardians properly in spite of the seal on him. It was quite beautiful to watch, even if the boy had absolutely no clue what was happening.

And when he opened his eyes, Reborn had to hold in a gasp.

Where brown eyes had been was the clearest amber color, almost as if Tsuna was tapped into his Dying Will state without a bullet.

One thing was clear though... he would have to get Tsuna to play his violin more without a set song piece, if letting his feeling flow freely could cause something like this to happen.

Well, they did say a proper band or orchestra sounded best when in "harmony" with each other...


	11. Chapter 11

"So let me get this straight. You want me to wing it when I play for Dino and his Guardians later."

"Your usual style is good, don't get me wrong, but the sound was much better when you didn't have a set piece to play."

"There's no way you're going to convince Hibari to join us."

"I've already taken that into account, though I will be bringing Lambo and I-Pin."

"Fine. When do you want to do this anyway?"

"Tomorrow, after dinner," said Reborn.

Tsuna nodded. He needed to do a maintenance check on his violin anyway. He hated putting it off, which he was forced to do once Reborn showed up.

* * *

"So we're just going to follow Tsuna's lead?" asked Takeshi.

"I have a hunch about something I want to check. Wait for him to start it off and when you get the feeling, start playing," said Reborn.

If he was right, then Tsuna had subconsciously found a way to harmonize with his Guardians without the seal stopping him. The more he could get the boy to tap into that, the easier his job was.

Besides, Fon was going to be sitting with I-Pin and Colonello since he rarely got a chance to hear Tsuna play without having to avoid Kyouya.

Tsuna took a deep breath. Dinner had been great, even if he didn't recognize most of the Italian dishes, and he was relaxed enough to do this. The doors were left open so it could be heard throughout the house. Most of Dino's men were going to be listening in through headphones anyway, since they couldn't exactly sit outside the doors.

He put the violin on his shoulder, placed the bow where he wanted...and just relaxed as notes filled the air.

As before, he felt himself thinking of his guardians...though it came easier this time. Slowly, he slipped into what he felt from Dino.

Both as a fellow "Sky" and as a surrogate older brother.

Wild and free like the horse he was named after, a bucking stallion that was loyal and true to his men. And while he was gangly and clumsy when he was alone or with people he wasn't familiar with, he was an ally that anyone would want to have. Even if he did have a bad habit of forgetting where Enzo was at any given moment.

Amber-gold slipped into resonance with the gentle amber of his own soul.

Tsuna switched over to Reborn and the other Arcobaleno.

Reborn was easy. He was chaos in human form...a dark and mysterious figure that operated from the shadows, and despite what he might claim loved his students. Even when he was blowing them up or shooting at them. He put them through hell because he _actually_ cared and honestly believed they could be better than what they were. That they could fill the demands that fate and blood had put upon them. His loyalty was unquestioned, and his skills were unmatched by anyone alive.

Reborn felt it when his Flames started reacting to Tsuna's. It wasn't like the other Skies he had dealt with before.

Most Skies either tried to drown him with their Flames, or made sneak attacks while pretending they weren't. And every time it happened it always felt like someone was trying to rip apart his very soul at the way he was denied harmony.

It hurt, in a way that was impossible to explain or describe.

This though... he could feel a major difference.

Tsuna's Flames weren't _demanding_ he join a Harmony he might not want (but in his heart he was always yearning for it), nor was it pressing against him and forcing him to submit. It was coiling around him like a playful kitten, asking him to join in on the fun while allowing him to keep his distance if he wished.

It was nice.

He could feel a mild disappointment when his Flames didn't feel like playing, but there was _acceptance_ to the fact that he might not be ready for it, and for the first time he didn't feel like his very soul was being torn apart by not accepting harmony.

But the clear invitation to join was still there, waiting and displaying open patience.

He observed Fon as the melody switched over. Like the eye of the hurricane, a calm center that merely hinted at the destruction to come. The long serene notes suited Fon _perfectly_...right before switching to the chaotic sound of a storm about to hit and hit hard.

Like what happened to him before, he could feel the Flames coaxing Fon out to take a chance.

Unlike Reborn, Fon was willing to see what would happen.

Reborn saw the slight jolt in the Storm's body language, before it relaxed completely with surprise and astonishment. A gentle poke revealed what he suspected... Fon had slipped into Harmony with Tsuna.

Colonello seemed to realize what was going on, and looked slightly apprehensive about it. But at the same time there was a sense of eager hope that the same would happen to him.

The tune changed to the sound that reminded Reborn of a playful dog that liked to get into mischief and roll around in the mud...and was quick to switch into guard mode when danger threatened. The serene melody of a squall that was only matched by the thundering sound of rain on a tin roof.

Colonello seemed to straight up a bit before a wide smile came upon his face.

Finally Tsuna switched over to little Lambo, who had been listening to the whole thing with uncharacteristic silence and awe.

The melody reminded him of the Running of the Bulls in Spain, almost, with the crackle of a lightning storm. There was also the playful sound of a children everywhere and Reborn felt it when Lambo's Flames neatly slid into where it belonged. It seemed to settle something in the brat.

Tsuna finished and it was to the sound of a roaring applause. He blushed, especially when Dino slung an arm around his shoulder.

"Best performance I've heard. I've been to a few concert halls but none of them were that good!"

"You haven't even noticed it yet, have you?" said Reborn amused.

Dino looked at him.

"Check your flames, idiota."

Dino blinked, before squinting a bit. His eyes widened considerably in surprise.

"What... how?"

His Sunny Sky was in perfect Resonance with Tsuna.

"It seems Tsuna found his own way to work around the seal. Then again they do say that an orchestra sounds best when it is in _harmony_ ," said Reborn.

"...At least my men won't be whining that they missed it," said Dino.

"It was a most interesting performance," agreed Fon, taking the boy's free shoulder. Tsuna had finished putting up his violin, so he didn't mind it too much.

"That was certainly a work out!" laughed Takeshi. He had kept up, barely, but he was definitely winded. Ryohei nodded in agreement.

"That was an extreme performance little bro!"

"It was _weird_ ," said Hayato flatly. That warmth in his chest had gotten a lot stronger than before, and he still didn't know what it meant.

"That warmth you're feeling right now is called Harmony, and it's the reason why Skies are so coveted. The fact Tsuna can pull that off even with the seal on him is nothing short of a miracle. It also means you've become his _proper_ Guardians, since that's a requirement," said Reborn.

"Gwahahaha! Lambo-sama wants to play with Tsuna-nii too!"

"You can play on the pots and pans when we get home, Lambo," said Tsuna absently.

I-Pin was responsible enough to have a proper instrument, but Lambo was still a bit of a wild brat. He'd have a lot of fun making noise and being a kid in general without blowing things up...and if Tsuna were lucky he'd drive Reborn crazy with the racket.

* * *

"What on earth are you putting in?" asked Reborn.

" _Les Mis_ _é_ _rables._ It's kid-friendly enough that Lambo can watch it with us so long as he doesn't see the scene where Fantine lowers her standards for money," said Tsuna absentmindedly. "It's not half bad and the musical score would be good practice for us as a group."

Reborn blinked.

"I didn't know you liked musicals."

Tsuna turned to look at him.

"Have you _seen_ my music collection? Musicals are one of my favorite genres. Though mom made me keep them in my room after she accidentally put in my copy of _Sweeny Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street_ when she was looking for a comedy."

"You don't watch _Cats_ , do you?"

Tsuna glared at him for the mere idea.

"I have _standards_ , thank you very much. I also have a pretty extensive collection of plays like _Macbeth_ or _Hamlet_ , if you're interested."

Tsuna was a fan of the classics. While he did enjoy the more modern movies, he preferred the old school ones because the scores sounded better. He could play through the Imperial March from _Star Wars_ without hesitation, even if it only just sounded right because he was missing the other instruments.

Reborn smirked and settled in to watch a classic. It was fun to know Tsuna had good taste in movies.

"Got popcorn?"

Tsuna handed him the bowl. It took little effort to redirect Lambo away from the screen by taking him into the kitchen for a big bowl of freshly set grape jello.

Reborn noticed Tsuna humming halfway through the movie.

"You have all the songs memorized, don't you?"

"Some of them, yeah. Though I'm brave enough to sing to them out loud."

Reborn smirked.

"Let me put this another way. I am not singing unless you join in with me," deadpanned Tsuna.

"Challenge accepted."

* * *

Tsuna was positively beaming when heard Fuuta's ranking.

"Number one for musical ability and unconventional ways to use Flames. Somehow this doesn't surprise me in the least," said Reborn dryly.

"Can I stay with you?" asked Fuuta hopefully, having tracked Tsuna down.

"You don't mind classical music do you?"

Fuuta shook his head. He didn't really listen to music that much.

"Then you're welcome to stay," said Tsuna. He was practically tackled into a hug by the smaller boy. "Now where are those thugs chasing you?"

"They should be here soon enough," said Reborn.

"In that case... time for a bit of fun," grinned Tsuna.

There was something in his smile that would have worried Reborn...if he were a civilian.

"... Tsuna, when exactly did you have time to make this many Molotov Cocktails and why do you still have them?" asked Reborn seriously.

"Bonding time with Colonello and Hayato. He seemed pretty eager to play with things that explode like napalm at half the cost, besides Colonello said this stuff barely qualifies as decent liquor in the first place. Be sure to have the hose handy," said Tsuna grinning.

Reborn eyed the stockpile of flammable liquid, then his student.

"We tell your mother nothing, and I'll alert your Cloud that he's going to have to have the fire department handy if your aim is off."

"At least we'll have fun, right?"

Reborn's grin was rather terrifying. It was nice when students allowed him to join in on chaos he hadn't thought up himself.

Dino certainly wasn't this entertaining, not until after he got his whip and turtle.

Seeing the soon-to-be-on-fire members of the Todd familigia collect on the street below, Tsuna's grin was positively evil. And the best part was that Takeshi and Hayato would soon be over to deal with the stragglers.

Anyone stupid enough to chase a kid to the point he was this exhausted deserve everything those two would come up with.

"...Is that Toreador?" asked Reborn, eyeing the stereo.

"Maybe?" said Tsuna. "Easier to drown out the screams."

"True. First one to ten wins," said Reborn grinning.

"You're on!"

 _Some time later..._

"Holy shit... what happened to the street?" asked Hayato in shock.

"...Why am I smelling burnt flesh?" asked Takeshi, staring at the damage.

"How do you even know what that smells like anyway?" asked Hayato.

"Long story short, there's a reason why dad opted to teach me how to make sushi instead of actual cooking," said Takeshi embarrassed. He couldn't cook to save his life, and last time he almost got a really nasty burn because he wasn't paying attention. Hard to forget a smell like that.

Hayato sniffed the air.

"Correction... who pissed Tsuna off to the point he actually used those bottles Colonello showed us how to make?"

"Bottles?"

"Really cheap liquor with high proof and fire. Basically a cheaper alternative to explosives with all the fun of burning liquid and a lot of pain to anyone caught in the blast zone," explained Hayato.

"...Tsuna knows how to make a Molotov cocktail?" said Takeshi, raising an eyebrow while skirting the damaged areas.

"Well yeah. It's something any 'civilian' can have in their home that makes a really effective weapon," said Hayato.

Then he saw who was inside.

"And suddenly the reason why the street looks like that makes perfect sense," deadpanned Hayato.

Because if that wasn't the Ranking Prince at the kitchen table cheerfully eating dinner, then clearly he needed his eyes checked.

"Honestly, it was a good thing you weren't home when those delinquents made such a mess outside, Tsuna!" said Nana.

Tsuna kept a perfectly straight face while trying not to laugh. He might have lost to Reborn, but it was still a pretty fun afternoon.

Though the Todd familigia was going to think twice about confronting him on his home turf. He already asked Hibari to keep an eye out for more, considering they were trying to harm a "small animal" in _his_ territory. A small animal that was able to bring a lot of fake carnivores for Hibari to play with simply by existing.

Needless to say the Cloud was thrilled at the idea of new "playmates".

Colonello was still crowing at the damage Tsuna inflicted on a bunch of idiots using what the Rain had taught him.

"So what really happened?" asked Hayato in Tsuna's room.

Tsuna had an evil grin on his face.

"The Todd Familigia apparently thought they had a 'right' to Fuuta. They were stupid enough to surround the house, even after one of them recognized Reborn. So I taught them the error of assuming that I was just a harmless civilian," grinned Tsuna.

"Your aim needs work," said Reborn flatly.

"So long as the splatter hit them, I don't really care. I'm still waiting for summer... Colonello mentioned something about sniper rifles, since I can't seem to get the hang of hand guns."

Reborn's face darkened.

"If you wanted to learn how to shoot, you could have asked me," he said annoyed.

"And give you more reason to try and make my life miserable? It's not like there are guns you can hide in a violin case or anything," said Tsuna dismissively.

"You'd be surprised," said Reborn. "Why didn't you mention an interest in fire arms sooner?"

"Because you were too busy trying to make my life chaos, which is one thing you don't need when training someone to shoot," said Tsuna. "Besides, I'm still working on my hand to hand anyway."

"I can see what we'll be doing for the next few weeks," said Reborn cheerfully. First he would have to get a few sample guns for Tsuna to try out. "Of course you realize the first thing I'm going to be teaching you is how to take a gun apart and put it together in working order."

"Give me a second," said Tsuna, going up to the attic. He came down with a box.

"What's this?" asked Hayato. He hadn't seen that before.

Tsuna opened up the cardboard to reveal...

"Are those limited edition Gundams?" asked Takeshi, staring.

"Yes. This used to be my hobby before I took up the violin."

"Aren't these the super rare, almost impossible to put together right models that take weeks to complete, on top of the actual paint job?" said Takeshi.

Tsuna's look was perfectly flat.

"I had no friends before you guys came into my life, and it was one of the few things I could do to kill time instead of homework that made no sense."

"Exactly how hard are these things to make?" asked Reborn. The paint job was acceptable, but he could see that it was made of a lot of tiny parts that would take hours to put together properly.

It was much harder to put together compared to a simple gun.

Takeshi grimaced.

"Very. These are the sort of things only serious enthusiasts would mess with," said Takeshi.

Fuuta poked at one, and the arm moved. He squeaked and almost dropped it.

"Go ahead and play with them if you want Fuuta. I mostly kept them around since I still like the series. I can always put a new one together," said Tsuna.

The boy perked up.

"Wonder if Colonello would like this one," said Tsuna speculatively.

"Is that a gold edition model of the Wing Gundam, right down to the ability to shift into flight mode?"

"It's the silver edition, actually," said Tsuna. He couldn't afford the gold one when it came out.

Hayato had in his hands a box that looked unopened.

"Feel free to put that one together. I got those right around the time I started messing around with the violin, so it should still have all the parts," said Tsuna.

Reborn had another one in his hands.

"What's Tallgeese?"

"I'll show you the series later."


	12. Chapter 12

Tsuna looked at the box Reborn had more or less dumped on his bed.

"What is this?"

"Open it and find out. If you can make it to the point it can work correctly, we'll start some new lessons."

Tsuna sputtered when he realized Reborn had more or less dumped an entire box of gun parts with a single instruction sheet on how to put it together on his bed.

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"No."

"Fine, just don't expect me to get it right in a single night. It took me at least two weeks for me to complete a single model. And keep the kids out!"

Reborn smirked, and leaned back on his hammock to watch the show. Time to see if Tsuna was lying about being a fan of model kits and being able to follow exact instructions from a single sheet.

It had taken Hayato a week to finish the model kit Tsuna had let him keep, and a full day to finish painting it properly.

He found the precision required relaxing. There was now a model of the Aries suit from _Gundam Wing_ on the shelf next to the piano CD's.

Tsuna studied the sheet for a good fifteen minutes, making sure to commit it to memory. It was a lot less complicated than the usual instruction guides he followed. Though it had been several months since he messed around with his model kits.

There was a reason he had put them up in storage.

Then, to Reborn's amazement, he watched Tsuna put the entire thing together in ten minutes flat. He was timing it, so he could say that honestly.

Tsuna sat it down on the desk looking rather bored at the whole thing.

Reborn inspected the gun. It looked like it should, and it seemed to be in working order. Just to be on the safe side, he opted to pull the trigger from a distance using an odd contraption he had on hand.

It fired perfectly.

"How did you do that?"

"Compared to the model kits, putting together a gun is actually easy," shrugged Tsuna.

Reborn gave him a hard stare.

He took out a different gun, one of his many spares.

"Take this apart. I'll time you on how fast you do it and how long it takes you to put it back together perfectly."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow, but took the gun. Within minutes he had the thing taken apart down to the tiniest piece...and then he proceeded to put it right back together from memory alone in half the time.

Reborn stared.

"...How is it you can take apart a Beretta in less than five minutes and put it together in two and a half, but you can barely keep your grades up?"

"I like precision. And you know half the teachers in that school are automatically biased against me because of my reputation. Besides, the parts aren't nearly as finicky or hard to deal with as a model."

It took precision to pull off some of the scores he knew from memory. He got really good at memorizing sheet music quickly, since his bullies like to destroy them thinking it was homework.

Tsuna discovered the more "interesting" he found a subject, the easier it was to memorize it until he could pull off some rather odd feats.

And he had become fascinated with how a sniper rifle was put together, so he became interested in guns.

Not the firing of the weapons, but the way the pieces fell together and worked as one.

Reborn had a strange gleam in his eyes.

Tsuna suddenly feared for his weekends.

* * *

 _Two days later..._

Takeshi looked at Tsuna, who appeared to be exhausted beyond belief.

"What happened to you?"

"Reborn had me assembling and disassembling Beretta-style hand guns for _hours_ until I could do it blindfolded three times out of five. He said once I get it to the point I can do it every time we'll work on shooting."

He didn't even _like_ the idea of firing a gun! They were too noisy for his tastes! At least with a sniper rifle you could wear headphones and still be able to shoot from a distance!

Hayato grinned at him.

"It wasn't that bad," he said. He was used to firing guns.

"I hate the noise. Maybe if he let me use a silencer I wouldn't be so against it, but he said I had to get used to it eventually," said Tsuna annoyed.

"I'm still surprised you had so many model kits in storage," said Hayato.

"Again, I had zero friends and no inclination to go outside and socialize until I found that violin. And homework was a lost cause from the start. At least I can understand how models work... people just confuse me," said Tsuna annoyed. "And guns are much less complicated when it comes to putting them together."

Tsuna either didn't notice or care with the looks his classmates were giving him, since he hadn't lowered his voice when talking about it.

Needless to say the second people found out Tsuna knew how to put a gun together that actually _worked_ , he found his remaining bullying problem gone.

No one wanted someone who had no issues with handling fire arms coming after their ass.

Tsuna had a new violin case. He wasn't exactly complaining about it, since his old one was pretty banged up to begin with and only had enough room for his violin and bow. The lining was almost worn out and the wood needed replacing.

He was suspicious about Reborn's sudden generosity... and for good reason. It took him ten minutes to find out that the case opened up (while still holding his instrument and bow in place) to reveal several clips of ammo, no less than three different types of hand guns, and a combat knife.

Tsuna twitched.

"Do I want to know?"

"Let's just say your friend Shōichi is surprisingly good at being able to create a new carrying case for your beloved violin _and_ able to create a very well hidden compartment for some extra weapons. I'm going to make you intimately familiar with each of these guns before the next semester starts," said Reborn pleased.

"I have no choice in the matter, do I?"

"Not after you displayed an unusual amount of skill in putting things together with minimal instruction, no," said Reborn bluntly.

Tsuna grimaced.

"Are you afraid of guns?" asked Reborn.

"No, I just hate the noise. You know how much I love music... the last thing I want to deal with is hearing damage from the loud noise guns make at close range."

Considering his limited social interaction outside before Reborn came, he didn't really care much for humans.

Humans were vain, petty, cruel creatures that thought nothing of tearing each other down for their own amusement. Tsuna actually resented them, to the point he only bothered to ask Hibari to tone it down when Kusakabe asked him to intervene. It was the same reason he didn't play anywhere his classmates could hear him.

Reborn had to wonder what it was that caused that sort of look in Tsuna's eyes. The boy was a wellspring of hidden surprises. It was becoming hard to guess what other talents the boy had hidden out of his forced isolation by his peers and because of that seal.

Reborn sighed.

"Fine, I'll get you some special headphones. But you had better follow my instruction without complaint," said Reborn.

"Fair enough."

Reborn set up a set of targets, both stationary and moving. Tsuna was a bit curious as to why Dino was there.

"Don't you have paperwork or something?" asked Tsuna.

"And miss helping out my little brother in training? What did you do to piss Reborn off that he got you started on shooting this early?"

"I showed him my model collection," said Tsuna deadpan.

"...Model collection?"

Tsuna pulled out a kit and tossed it to Dino.

"I put these together when I'm in a slump. Guns aren't nearly as finicky," said Tsuna shrugging.

Dino blinked. He had no idea how to respond to that.

Then again he wasn't really allowed to use guns unless his men were nearby because he was so clumsy.

"You ready Tsuna?"

Hearing the gun being clicked off of safety, Reborn smirked.

"I want you to hit as many of the targets as you can. Since we're just testing your aim you don't have to do them in any particular order," said Reborn. "Useless Dino, you might want to stand out of the way just in case."

Tsuna was all alone, or it certainly felt like that. He had a single ear piece in so that he could hear Reborn, but not enough to sufficiently block the noise of the *9gun. He couldn't see anyone, though it might mean they were very good at hiding.

Still, the echoing of the wind around him was uncomfortably familiar. The sound of silence as the isolation crept around him.

Something inside him clicked, and he fired.

For the next few minutes he systematically kept shooting without rhyme or reason, almost as if he was playing his violin all alone again, without anyone to hear him.

It was odd, the sense of calm he had.

It took him a second or two to register his gun was empty.

"Are you done?" asked Reborn. Though he was frowning.

While Tsuna's aim was piss-poor at best (not surprising considering he never really fired a gun before), the way he seemed to go into a trance state bothered Reborn greatly.

Normal people would pause or hesitate between shoots, not continuously pull the trigger. In fact most would hold the gun oddly, because they were not used to the weight.

Tsuna tried again, with a slightly bigger gun. He managed to hit four this time, though he gave Reborn an odd look for the way he was snapping his fingers in front of his face.

"Will you knock that off?"

"You went straight into a fugue state the second you started firing," said Reborn bluntly.

Tsuna blinked.

"Well, yeah, I tend to zone out when I'm in an isolated area without any people around. I didn't think it was a big deal."

"Didn't think... Exactly what did you get up to before I came here?!"

"My only consistent friend until Takeshi broke his arm was Hibari," deadpanned Tsuna. "And even then Takeshi was still a member of the baseball team, so we didn't hang out that often, and Hayato was generally trying to earn cash to get here. You have no idea what it's like, being isolated without human contact for hours at a time."

Reborn was silent. He knew Tsuna had a great deal of trauma from some rather extensive bullying growing up, but he had no idea it was this bad. That he could slip into a trance like state so easily was not a good thing.

* * *

 _The next week..._

"I can already shoot though."

"I know, but something was bothering me about the way Tsuna handled the gun."

Hayato winced.

"He didn't flinch when he shot it did he?"

It was a common problem among beginners. Even he used to flinch at the loud sound of explosives before he got used to it.

"That's the problem. He mechanically kept shooting at the targets, or tried to, without even stopping. He was in a trance-state. He won't improve unless he can properly focus on what he's doing wrong."

"So why did you bring me then?" asked Hayato, confused.

"Dino has to do his own work, so he can't visit for a while. However Tsuna openly trusts you and you're already familiar with how to shoot. I'm hoping that having his Guardian with him will keep him from slipping into that state in the first place."

Reborn had noted the bond between Tsuna and Hayato was very strong. And it was only growing the more they were in close range.

"Besides, you'll be helping your future boss improve on an important skill he'll have to learn eventually."

"I still say sniper rifles are superior!" said Tsuna loudly.

"Don't back talk me brat," said Reborn, kicking him in the side. He was not losing his student to Colonello, dammit. That idiot was still crowing about how Tsuna defended his house with Molotov cocktails instead of a direct fight.

Tsuna rubbed his side. Reborn was such a jerk.

"Get into your preferred stance, Tsuna. You too Hayato."

Tsuna eyed Hayato's presence oddly. For the first few shots, he was almost mechanical. Hayato could see why Reborn was a bit worried about him, so he did something he knew would calm Tsuna down.

He started humming something at random. Tsuna blinked for a few moments, before he resumed. Except there was something different about the way he was shooting the gun.

There was a strange sort of _rhythm_ to the sound of the shots. Hayato grinned as a sudden idea came to him.

He switched his humming to something Tsuna would recognize very quickly, and without hesitation the 'sound' of the guns going off fell in line to match the song.

Oddly enough, Tsuna's aim rapidly got better once it started to fall in line with the humming.

It took them a few seconds to register the 'clicks' of an empty clip.

"Interesting. Very interesting. I forgot to take into account his obsession with music..." said Reborn, walking up to the two.

Tsuna's aim had improved drastically. He had hit over half the targets, two of which had almost erratic movements.

Reborn smirked. He knew how to train Tsuna now. He was going to show that idiot Rain a thing or two about guns.

No way in hell was he letting Colonello corrupt Tsuna with his stupid anti-tank weaponry.

Tsuna shivered.

"Why do I get the feeling I stepped in the middle of some weird rivalry?" he asked to no one in particular.

Hayato snorted.

"What did you expect after Colonello started bragging about how quickly you learned from him? You of all people know Reborn is competitive as hell."

"Ah, that explains it," said Tsuna nodding.


	13. Chapter 13

"Tsuna-nii, what instrument should I play?" asked Fuuta innocently.

Tsuna looked at little Fuuta. He clearly felt left out because he was always on the outside watching them practice. Getting Hibari to join them was difficult, but not impossible.

"Let's see... maybe one of the wind instruments like Takeshi or Onii-san..." muttered Tsuna.

Reborn rolled his eyes. Tsuna was corrupting another person with his music addiction again.

Tsuna frowned as he went through his collection of CD's. Nothing really seemed to feel "right" when it came to little Fuuta.

Well, there were certain instruments he didn't generally bother with, like the clarinet or oboe.

"I know, let's visit that annoying old man who eats far too much ramen!"

Reborn blinked.

"What."

Tsuna looked at him, before he realized something.

"Right, you've never been to Old Man Kawahira's shop. I generally bug him for music sheets. It's also where I got the replacement bow, since the original one was almost broken," said Tsuna.

Reborn took his spot on Tsuna's shoulder.

"Let's go then."

* * *

 _Some time later..._

"This is his shop?"

"Doesn't look like much does it? Hard to believe I've been coming here for years, even before I found the violin," said Tsuna with nostalgia.

Old Man Kawahira sold a lot of random things in his shop...though he did start stocking up on musical items when Tsuna expressed a true interest. Come to think of it, this was where he got most of his model kits for a slightly lower price than the main shops...there was so much junk here it made him wonder what the shop itself was supposed to specialize in.

Tsuna held Fuuta's hand as he took the boy into the slightly darker areas of the shop.

"Try to find something that feels 'right' to you. Takeshi didn't really know what to play either, but he found he was really good at the flute. Ryohei was so extreme that the only way to match his enthusiasm was to introduce him to the trumpet."

Fuuta looked around, picking up some of the smaller instruments. Nothing really seemed to 'call' to him like Tsuna said it would. But he really loved the music Tsuna-nii and the others made, and hearing them play together was something more magical than his silly ranking ability.

As he looked around, his mind wandered until his hand stuck fast on something. His right hand was clasped around something long and metal.

"Hmm? So you're suited to the bass clarinet," said Tsuna. "Not sure if I have any sheet music for it, but we'll figure something out."

"Another one brat?" said the owner.

Tsuna grinned at him.

"What can I say... I'm working towards the full orchestra."

Kawahira snorted, though he did have an odd look in his eye when he saw Reborn.

Tsuna didn't know what it was...but he didn't particularly like it.

Either way, at least I-Pin had someone to practice with, even if the sound of the bass clarinet and the violin together was rather unusual. They didn't mind though... Tsuna always made a point to set aside a few hours to join them and give them tips.

Besides... it was fun to play together.

* * *

Tsuna knew something was terribly wrong the second he couldn't find Fuuta for their usual practice session. The oldest of the kids he had more or less taken in (he treated Lambo and I-Pin like his younger siblings and they loved him for it) _never_ missed a session because it meant he had Tsuna's almost complete attention for a while.

He took out his cell phone (ever since word spread about him learning how to shoot guns, he never had to worry about his things being ruined again) and started a mass dialing session.

Say what you would about Tsuna, but he was _very_ territorial to the point he was almost as bad as Kyouya when it came to those he cared about. If someone was missing he wanted to know WHY.

He quickly narrowed down the reasoning to something that pissed him off.

Fuuta had been kidnapped.

Someone was going to pay and pay _dearly_.

* * *

Mukuro looked at the rankings in his hand.

What the hell.

"Ranked number one as the most musically talented and able to convert anyone to his religion?"

Chikusa and Ken were seeing the same thing, so it wasn't just him.

"I asked for a list of _threats_ to my eventual rule, not this!" he hissed at their captive.

Fuuta was staring back at Mukuro, for different reasons.

"You do realize once Nii-san finds out I haven't come to practice he's going to hunt me down and forcibly convert you to his ways, right?" he said bluntly.

"I'll never bow to another mafioso again," hissed Mukuro.

"I never said anything about the mafia, I said nii-san is going to convert you. It happens to everyone," deadpanned Fuuta. He could already feel the bond between him and Tsuna growing stronger, which meant his big brother was already on his way following the unseen strings between them.

He was also pissed, for good reason.

Mukuro had no idea what was about to befall him and his minions. It was actually rather hilarious in a way.

* * *

 _Five hours later..._

Mukuro stared at the odd teen with the case.

"Hi, are you the one who kidnapped Fuuta?"

"Kufufufufu..."

"I'll take that as a yes. You have two options... hand him over now or I'll convert you and take him back anyway."

"You and what army?"

Tsuna grinned and pulled out his violin. He had noticed he had the weird ability to get _anyone_ to listen to his demands after he let loose. Though it was odd Reborn hadn't picked up on that yet.

Mukuro was completely confused, until he remembered the bizarre rankings the Ranking Prince had given him.

He called Chikusa and Ken in the second he did... he wasn't facing this brat alone. Especially with that weird look on his face. He also brought Lancia in for good measure.

* * *

Reborn stared, then looked at his coffee. He tossed out the entire cup (it was almost empty anyway) before trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

He walked out and came back in again, baffled.

"Tsuna?"

"Yes, Reborn?" said Tsuna cheerfully with Fuuta in his lap.

"Why are there escaped criminals in your dining room?"

Rokudo Mukuro gave Tsuna a filthy look.

"Blame him," said the Mist crankily.

Tsuna beamed at the older teen.

"Tsuna-nii did it again, except this time he didn't give them a choice on joining his religion," said Fuuta happily with a cup of hot cocoa in front of him. He was sitting in Tsuna's lap.

"First time I've seen a violin do _that_ ," grumbled the feral kid with blond hair.

"Dammit Tsuna, not again!" complained Reborn face-palming.

The tallest one chuckled darkly.

"It was hilarious. They kept trying to attack him and he kept dodging while playing his violin. I've never seen Sky Flames work that fast."

"Tsuna is very good at converting people to his religion," said Fuuta in agreement.

Reborn blinked. Then he groaned.

"That's actually the best description of his near fanaticism towards music I've heard yet," said Reborn. Tsuna's grin widened.

"Check it out, I finally have a proper cellist, someone who can play either the sax or the oboe, and another percussion member!"

Reborn looked at Mukuro, Chikusa and Ken.

"Okay which is which?" he had to ask, if only to stave off his coming migraine.

"Well Mukuro here is clearly suited to the cello or the counter-bass, Chikusa is either a sax or oboe...I'm having trouble figuring out which, and Ken is a natural drummer," chirped Tsuna.

"What about him?" asked Reborn, pointing at Lancia.

"Every good orchestra needs someone to haul things around," said the man flatly. He was not getting roped in, no matter how grateful he was to Tsuna for the most amusing payback he'd ever seen. Forcibly converting his tormentor into joining a _band_ of all things and making him submit was hilarious.

"How did he convert you?" asked Reborn. If only to know what he had to avoid.

Mukuro grumbled.

"He accused me of being a mafioso, and I paused long enough to correct him that I am a violinist and a musician, not a mafioso. I think that threw him off enough for my music to properly reach him and by extension his minions," said Tsuna.

"You are not getting out of being Decimo," said Reborn flatly.

"I never said I was trying to. I merely pointed out that until I am officially confirmed as Decimo heir I am still _technically_ a civilian. As far as I'm concerned, being in the mafia is more like a part time job."

And that was what amused Mukuro enough to actually give Tsuna's Flames their chance to convert him to his side.

The Mist had never heard _anyone_ call being part of the mafia a "part time job". Hell, Lancia actually choked in disbelief when Tsuna said that!

Reborn sighed. At this point he'd take what he could get. And to be honest, Tsuna made a better musician than a mafioso.

"You are still never getting me to sing, Tsuna," deadpanned Reborn.

"One day Reborn. One day I will have that recording and you'll never be able to live it down."

"Not a chance in hell Tsuna," said Reborn flatly.

"Kufufufufu... what recording?" asked Mukuro. He sensed mischief and he liked it.

"I have it on good authority that at some point I'll blackmail him into singing for us and I intend to catch it on tape to sell to an old colleague of his for a very large sum of money," said Tsuna.

"Kufufufu..."

Feeling the distinct chill of the Vindice arriving, Reborn had a bad feeling about what was about to happen.

As in he promptly went to get a camera to record this, because he had the feeling no one would believe a word of what was about to happen unless they saw it for themselves.

Seeing Tsuna block the chains that would have gone straight for Mukuro, the boy looked the mafia's unofficial "police" in the eye or close to it.

"May I ask what you are doing?" he said coldly. Fuuta was already hiding behind the couch, shivering from being this close to them.

" **These three have broken mafia law. They have destroyed two familigias without just cause."**

Tsuna raised an unimpressed eyebrow. He pulled out a rather old fashioned revolver style gun, and calmly opened it up to reveal bullets. Bullets that Reborn barely recognized from rumor alone.

"And if Rokudo Mukuro received _these_ straight from the creators after several years of experiments that go against mafia law, and wasn't mentally culpable at the time he destroyed the second familigia?" asked Tsuna flatly.

The Vindice stared at what were clearly Possession Bullets. They had been deemed illegal by the familigias because their use was unpredictable and would risk exposing the underworld to civilians.

" **Explain your reasoning,"** they said finally.

"Mukuro and his two companions had only just escaped the Esterneo labs after at least three years of human experimentation that had left many of their comrades either mad or dead. Considering the Esterneo are a former mafia family, it is _highly_ unlikely they would have accepted being adopted into a second one considering the level of abuse they suffered. The fact they left Lancia alive, as he had been the one to make sure they were settling in, says volumes," said Tsuna bluntly.

Dead silence... for a moment Reborn and Lancia feared that Tsuna would end up arrested with his potential Mist.

" **We will investigate your claim thoroughly and take possession of the weapon and the ammunition. Should they prove guilty, you will be held accountable along with them,"** said the Vindice.

"Acceptable."

The cold, sinister feeling disappeared. Reborn stared at Tsuna with disbelief along with Lancia.

"Damn... you have bigger balls than I thought, standing up to _them_ without batting an eye like that," said Lancia in awe.

Reborn silently agreed with that sentiment.

"Why would you stand up for us against them?" asked Ken, confused.

Tsuna looked rather sheepish.

"I got glimpses of what you went through from Mukuro's mind when I was playing. No one should have to suffer through that, and the fact you didn't immediately start going on a killing spree against civilians says that you're not entirely incapable of being redeemed. I can't say I approve of what you did to Lancia's familigia, but I understand _why_ you did it," said Tsuna awkwardly.

If they had just _escaped_ the labs of one mafia family, then there was no chance in HELL they were going to trust a second one so soon after their freedom.

The fact that the Vindice apparently agreed with his assessment said a lot. Though if they stepped out of line then it would be on Tsuna's head as well.

On the plus side, Tsuna had a Mist now.


	14. Chapter 14

Seeing the girl Mukuro had practically dragged to Tsuna's home looking very timid and confused, Tsuna beamed at him.

"You alright? What am I saying, you can't be alright when you're flinching like that," said Tsuna to himself. "What's your name?"

"N-Nagi," she said quietly, flinching when Tsuna inspected her injuries. He had a lot of practice bandaging himself up.

"Well I'm Tsuna, and short, dark and mysterious over there is Reborn."

Nagi giggled a little at the description.

"Let's see... you look like a lyre," he said.

Nagi blinked and Reborn groaned.

"A what?"

"A lyre, also known as a lute. Or maybe a harp, once your injuries heal," said Tsuna.

"Tsuna has an odd obsession with pairing people he's met with musical instruments to join his growing orchestra," explained Mukuro.

Though once he heard the cello being played he had to admit it was rather fascinating to hear such beautiful sounds coming from such a bulky instrument. And Tsuna had Ken pegged immediately.

Once the feral teen found out there was something he could play by banging away at it, he fell in love with it immediately...now the poor teacher had to find a way to get him to keep a rhythm.

Chikusa, ever the silent one, had been introduced to the two instruments Tsuna recommended, though Mukuro had the feeling the other would end up taking both up. The oboe for the complexity that it required, and the saxophone for the rich sound it made. It suited his nature rather well, as it allowed him to show off his quiet intelligence off without having to speak...something he hated.

Nagi was still confused... but upon meeting Nana the woman wouldn't hear of the poor girl returning to such an abusive home.

Besides, her mother had locked her out and she really didn't want to be around the woman's new husband.

Within a week, Nagi was quickly learning the fingering to the lute, while memorizing the harp in her spare time. Tsuna had been correct in his guess she wouldn't be able to quite reach _all_ the strings required of the harp just yet. Not until she caught up to the growth she missed.

Hayato looked at her with some amusement.

"You know I thought we were just going to be a simple band...but you're _literally_ gathering a proper orchestra aren't you?" asked Hayato.

"I don't mean to! I just keep finding people who can suit real instruments and end up recruiting them!" said Tsuna embarrassed.

"Fuuta was right... you've transcended a mere obsession and gone straight into a budding cult," said Takeshi laughing.

"Just wait... when you guys start selling CD's it might very well become a proper religion," said Shōichi amused.

"We might not even have to wait that long," snickered Hayato. Odds are Tsuna would convert the Vongola and through them the rest of the alliance to his bizarre harmony cult dedicated to music. And with how wide spread the mafia was...

Yeah, it might very well become a proper religion, or an unspoken one anyway. The mafia was still very much Catholic territory.

Nagi was just happy to have friends who were more than happy to commit violence if it meant keeping her safe from her mother. Even if it meant they had to clean out the attic so she could have a proper room, since the kids all had one room, Hayato and Reborn were sharing with Tsuna, and the master was entirely Nana's territory. The attic was mostly storage, but a few adjustments and it became an extra bedroom.

Mukuro and his trio ended up in an apartment and went to the same school as them. Different classes though, since Tsuna's was too full.

The meeting between Mukuro and Hibari was...explosive.

Tsuna put his foot down on the matter. They could be as violent and explosive as they wanted... so long as he was not required to give a damn about it or pay for it.

Something the two nuts took to with glee, if only to hold back until they were away from police interference.

* * *

Reborn had a migraine, and he fully blamed Tsuna.

"So let me get this straight. A bunch of escaped criminals came after him and took Fuuta... and he tracked them down within a day and converted them into his own with a violin," said Dino.

"He also convinced the Vindice to hand them over to him using logic even _I_ couldn't argue with. They're now officially under his control, though if any of them break that agreement Tsuna's going to be arrested with them," groaned Reborn.

"No way," said Dino in shock.

"I have a recording," said Reborn flatly.

"This I have to see."

Dino's eyes bulged at the sight of the Vindice... but more because of the casual way Tsuna was telling them "No, you can't take them."

"Holy shit."

"Tsuna would have made a very good lawyer," said Reborn crossly. It took some serious balls to talk back against the Vindice and come up with an argument that actually _worked_ when they came after someone.

"He still could," said Dino. The kid hadn't graduated high school yet.

"He's too focused on his music," said Reborn shaking his head.

"Still... this is getting a bit weird. He managed to convert a homicidal Mist and his minions with just his music?"

Reborn hid his face behind his fedora.

"It seems Tsuna expresses his Flames through music, rather than manifest them normally," he said crossly. "He said something about picking up memories from Mukuro during the fight, so it is possible."

"... You're going to have Leon eat his violin later, aren't you?"

"What do you think? Once we find a time when he'll have to fight normally, I expect Leon to do it himself and give Tsuna a rather unusual weapon, even for the Vongola."

One of the previous Dons had fought with a _fork_. A violin wasn't too far-fetched compared to that.

Dino snorted in amusement.

* * *

As luck would have it, Dino caught the tail end of the fight when Leon exploded much like he had when he gave him Enzo and his whip.

"Reborn... when did your lizard eat my violin?" asked Tsuna darkly. It was a pity Dino couldn't see the look on his face. He was sure it was annoyed/angry.

"This morning, right before his tail fell off," said Reborn smugly. "Now end it Tsuna."

"Kyouya, when this is over feel free to take in all of the pet birds. I really could care less, and we might be able to train them into joining us," said Tsuna tiredly.

Anyone stupid enough to threaten his mother and the girls deserved to die.

There was the sound of a gun going off...and a body hitting the floor. Dino heard the inhuman shriek...right before chains came out of nowhere and captured the two serial killers.

Tsuna stared down the Vindice for a second time. His face was flat.

"Feel free to keep them. I have no respect for people who will murder civilians so casually," said Tsuna.

Dino could sense an odd sort of respect from the figures, who actually _nodded_ in return.

"Odd people... we might have to throw a concert for them sometime as thanks for keeping the worst locked up," said Tsuna.

"Are you alright Tsuna?" asked Dino.

"Give him a few minutes," said Reborn. "It hasn't properly hit yet."

Tsuna's face suddenly went green and he threw up his lunch.

"And there it is. Hayato, best to tell Mama we won't be home tonight. I really don't want to explain to her what he did," said Reborn.

Hayato nodded and was already calling home.

Dino picked up Tsuna with ease. He frowned, noticing how light his little brother was. The kid seriously needed to eat more.

* * *

Tsuna looked awful. Reborn was rubbing his back in a comforting way.

"I feel sick."

"That's a normal reaction. Do you regret taking Birds out?"

Tsuna took a deep breath, trying to ease out of the panic attack he was having.

"Not really. He was going to hurt Mama and the others simply because it made him feel powerful. Killing people should _never_ come easily," he said shuddering.

"No, it really shouldn't. Sadly humans are a violent, vicious lot and it has become the nature of our world that someone like you has to take a life to keep his loved ones safe," said Reborn. "However if you should ever start to _enjoy_ the act of taking a life, you'll know you've gone to far."

Tsuna shuddered at the idea. Rather than speaking, he quickly wrapped his arms around Reborn in a tight hug.

"If killing that man doesn't make me a monster, then your old job doesn't make you one either," he said.

Reborn blinked, letting the boy hug him. He ignored the way Tsuna was crying, and cursed that the world that he was stuck dragging Tsuna in had forced him to lose this part of his innocence.

There was little he could do about it, but it was the nature of how things were.

Tsuna woke up the next morning in a big pile on the bed. Everyone from Lambo to Kyouya of all people was there, even if the Cloud was sleeping in the corner rather than on the bed.

It was their way of saying that they still saw him as the same Tsuna they had known yesterday, despite the fact he had killed. It helped... a lot.

* * *

Tsuna was still a bit withdrawn after the incident, so Reborn decided to arrange something to cheer the boy up.

"How would you like to see a musical?" asked Reborn.

Tsuna eyed the collection he had in his room.

"I meant a normal one in a theater."

The teen perked up.

"Which one?"

" _Les Mis_ _é_ _rables_ , though odds are there are going to be some translation issues," said Reborn. The theater wasn't likely to have many customers considering most people preferred movies, and the musical itself wasn't Japanese.

"I'll be able to show Mukuro and the others why harmony is so important when it comes to playing music!"

While he might have gained the Mist's respect by saving him from the Vindice, it didn't translate to him being able to play at all. Chikusa caught on fairly quickly, though he was still having trouble reading the music sheets, and Ken was more likely to bang the drums than actually play...but Mukuro still needed the most work.

Then again he was often having too much fun poking at Kyouya to actually practice.

Tsuna was unashamed to admit he practically dragged Mukuro there, with an amused Nagi following behind along with Ken and Chikusa. The others (including Kyouya, oddly enough) were already waiting.

"Explain to me again why you're bringing me to this?" asked Mukuro. He was tolerant, but not amused.

"Let's just say I have the distinct feeling you empathize with the main character of the story. I also have it on DVD, so you can hear the English version," said Tsuna.

Mukuro still had no idea why Tsuna thought bringing him to this was a good idea.

That lasted until he got the main gist of the story, by which time Mukuro became openly interested in the story line properly.

"What is this story about?" asked Mukuro, intrigued.

"A man who was released on parole during a time when human rights was a total joke in France, and chased by a cop who took the law too seriously. The story itself follows his life at different times when his life intersected with that of the man chasing him, right up to his death. How he went from a slave to an honorable man," explained Tsuna.

Mukuro leaned back and listened intently.

"You said you had this on DVD, correct?"

"The English version, and the soundtrack," confirmed Tsuna.

"Kufufufu... if you can get me the music sheets and let me pick up how to read them from your mind, I might actually learn to practice that instrument you recommended," said Mukuro.

Tsuna grinned at him.

"I was hoping you'd say that. It would be a good way to see how well Chikusa has gotten with his playing," said Tsuna.

Chikusa blinked before he looked at him. He reminded Tsuna greatly of an owl, actually.

Mukuro found the musical endlessly fascinating. He could relate to the main character a lot.

But what really had his attention was the way Tsuna was relaxing for the first time in a week. Even if he openly cringed when one of the musicians hit a note wrong or the cast used the wrong translation.

Reborn's plan to help Tsuna get over his first kill was working rather well.


	15. Chapter 15

Tsuna hadn't even gone through the gate before he cringed.

"What is it?" asked Hayato.

"Can't you hear it? Something is causing major disharmony in the house!"

Hayato blinked, before he tried to hear it. It took him a few seconds before he picked up on it.

It was subtle, and not really something you could 'hear', but more of a feeling.

The house was normally warm and cheerful, with an unspoken 'sound' that made everyone feel welcome.

Right now though... there was something loud and obnoxious in the home, throwing off the harmony completely. It was so brazen and self-centered it was no wonder Tsuna couldn't stand being this close to the house.

The second Tsuna walked in the door, cringing at the raucous and discordant melody attempting to ruin the harmony of his home, he saw what the cause was.

That damn drifter was back. His face fell flat.

Tsuna went upstairs and grabbed his overnight back and his case, before leaving the house.

"What are you doing?" asked Fon.

"Calling Kyouya to see if he'd put up with us for a while until that drifter gets lost. If nothing else we can rent a hotel room," said Tsuna flatly.

"Drifter?" repeated Fon.

"The man in the house. I don't know who he think he is, coming here, but I refuse to pretend he's my father again. I only humored Mama last time because it was easier, but I've had enough of the lying."

Tsuna was already on the phone, and much to his annoyance Kyouya was going to be out for several days. Which meant he was going to have to rent a hotel room until the drifter left.

It was going to kill his savings, but he was not staying in that house when that man was there. The discordant feel of his presence was migraine inducing that it killed his ability to play.

"You could always ask Dino if he'd let you stay with him. He's in town," said Fon.

"Dino's in town?" repeated Tsuna. He sounded rather relieved to hear that. He had the number on his phone, and was already calling. He might not know Dino very well, but he was certain that he could pay for any inconvenience it would cause by playing for Dino's men. They had certainly enjoyed it.

It took less than five minutes before Dino showed up.

"So you need a place to crash, little bro?"

"Me and possibly my Guardians. There's this annoying drifter who's crashing at my house, throwing the whole feel of it off. There's no way we can play with him there. I had to put up with him once, I'm not making that mistake again."

"Well the guys are going to be thrilled you're staying with us for a while," said Dino. "If you play it like you did that one time they're going to love you."

Tsuna grinned.

"That I can do."

"Tsuna-nii, wait up!" said Fuuta.

He had his clarinet case in hand, along with his book. Lambo looked like he was about to be sick despite being carried by Hayato, and I-Pin was following Fon.

"What happened to Lambo?!" said Dino, surprised.

"The dumbass who's in the house gave him alcohol claiming it was 'magic water'. Fon barely kept I-Pin and Fuuta from getting any, but Lambo had a full sake glass of it," said Hayato in disgust. His face went flat when Lambo threw up.

Dino grimaced.

"I can see why you wanted to crash with us for a while, if there's someone _that_ stupid and careless in your house. God knows what they'd do to your instruments."

"Actually it's because whoever that stupid drifter is, he's causing the harmony of the house to go into a raucous discordant sound. There's no way I'm staying there."

Dino squawked when Reborn appeared out of nowhere.

"Tsuna, what are you doing?" asked Reborn.

"As long as that drifter is in _my_ house, I'm staying with Dino," said Tsuna bluntly, leaving no room for compromise on this. "I put up with his crap once the last time he showed up pretending to be my father, but I refuse to do that ever again."

* * *

 _Later that night..._

Tsuna jolted up the second he heard the awful sound of the discordant melody near his friends.

The sound was truly _awful_ , and he refused to let it infect the others.

Seeing the drifter about to give Lambo a shiny ring, Tsuna saw red.

 **Bang.**

There was a fresh bullet hole in the wall, and the drifter looked at him wide eyed in surprise.

"Step away from Lambo, you bastard. I don't know who you think you are, but I am not letting you near my friends."

"Tuna-fishy!"

"My _name_ is Tsuna. Not Tuna-fishy, or whatever ridiculous variants you insist on using as if I am a five-year-old. It's bad enough you brought discord to my home, but I am not letting you bring it here as well. _Get out_."

The man stared at him, as if he had never seen Tsuna before. Tsuna still had a gun in his hand and aimed in the man's general direction.

He took _one_ step to Tsuna...only to dodge the shot at the last second. Tsuna wasn't stopping either... his aim might still need a lot of work, but keeping it in the general direction of the fool in such a narrow hallway still meant he was at least close.

He even managed to wing the bastard in the ass, which made his day.

"What on earth..." said Dino, who had come out when he heard gunshots. He avoided the attack with the ease only living with Reborn in a mood could give.

He stared at the way Tsuna was _openly_ trying to kill the External Adviser of the Vongola, who oddly enough happened to be his own father.

Being this close to the man a second time, he was able to pick up on what Tsuna had mentioned before.

There was an odd, dissonant melody coming off him. It was loud, abrasive and very hard to hear anything over.

No wonder Tsuna had left the house, rather than be so close to it.

Tsuna looked downright _pissed_ about something.

"Not bad. I give your aim a five out of ten," said Reborn.

"I know. I'm still working on it, and the bastard is quick," said Tsuna darkly. "He was trying to give Lambo something."

"Probably the Lightning ring. The boy is the one closest to you after all."

Tsuna's face contorted into disgust.

"He wanted _Lambo_ to act as my Lightning Guardian? He must really be suicidal if he thought I was going to let _that_ go down without a fight," said Tsuna angrily. He was already getting his phone out to call someone.

"Who are you going to have serve as your Lightning then?" asked Dino.

"He might not be a fighter, but I'm sure he can easily come up with something to handle that issue," said Tsuna darkly.

He hadn't met Spanner yet, but he was sure that the teen would be happy to act as placeholder in exchange for funding and a free ticket to Japan. He was good friends with Shōichi, which was the only reason he knew of the older teen.

After a rather quick and hurried conversation in Italian, Spanner agreed to act as his Lightning. It wasn't like he would have to do much once this mess was cleared up.

Tsuna didn't know what the big deal with the rings was, all he knew was that the drifter had tried to force Lambo to shoulder a burden too great for a child to possibly bear...even if he _did_ have the ten year bazooka on his side.

Besides, Spanner had been wanting to meet Shōichi in person properly for _years_. This was a great way to score a free ticket to Namimori.

* * *

Tsuna clutched his chest hearing that awful, pained melody. It wasn't like the blond who had barged into his home and set the harmony off... it was an angry sound of someone who had been hurt too many times and was barely hanging on to harmony by a thread.

Xanxus was in a lot of pain, but was too proud to admit it even to himself. And seeing that blond fool on the hill, it only got worse.

Tsuna couldn't take it anymore.

"Will someone shoot that idiot already!" said Tsuna loudly.

"I highly doubt any of your guardians could shoot the Varia boss and actually hit," said Reborn.

"I'm not talking about him, I was talking about that damn drifter! If I have to deal with this ridiculous fight over rings, then could we please get rid of that idiot with the pickax? He's only going to bring everything down and make everything worse!"

His presence was throwing _everything_ off and it was driving him nuts.

Dead silence.

"Kufufufu, dear Tsuna has a point. Even I can hear the dissonance in our Harmony being this close to such stupidity and I am still getting used to working with this group," said Mukuro flatly.

Reborn blinked. Then he realized what was going on.

Tsuna's musical skills had somehow managed to translate into his Sky, to the point he could hear the 'frequency' of Flames around him. And his Guardians were starting to pick up on it from him.

He must have picked up on how to work around the seal with his music by figuring out the 'frequency' of Timoteo's Flame and slipping through it.

Reborn wondered what his soul would "sound" like without having to work past that cage.

"Tuna-fishy!" whined Iemitsu.

Tsuna glared at the blond, before he looked at the Varia.

"Reborn, exactly what are the going rates for the Varia to deal with complete idiots?"

"More than you could possibly afford at the moment, never mind that you could simply fire him when you become Decimo," said Reborn flatly. "And that's before you get into the fact that patricide is frowned upon in the mafia."

" _Patricide_?" repeated Tsuna incredulous. "How is it considered _patricide_ if I genuinely do not recognize him as a member of my immediate family, much less as a parent? I refuse to recognize that idiotic drifter as anything other than a homeless bum who insists on abusing my mother's kindness and the fact she simply can't understand that my father died years ago! And even if you were to produce a DNA test to say otherwise, I have never and will never acknowledge that fool pretending to be anything other than a mafioso as related to me!"

You could literally hear the wind blow past at that declaration... right up until there was the sound of someone laughing.

Tsuna noticed that some of the angry edge in the Varia Sky seemed to die down, just a little at that declaration. He was still pissed off about something, and he definitely didn't like Tsuna... but there was an edge of respect in his eyes when he looked at him.

"Tsuna..."

The teen refused to even _look_ at the blond man, and made a point of turning his back towards him.

His father had died years ago, and nothing the man said or did would convince him otherwise.

"Let me make this abundantly clear. I will fight this idiotic battle for the rings, but that is it," said Tsuna bluntly, looking at Xanxus in the eye. "Where is this farce taking place anyway?"

"The school," said Reborn.

"I am so not placating Kyouya then. Whoever thought that one up can deal with him in a pissy mood," said Tsuna flatly.

* * *

Spanner was not regretting his decision to act as Tsuna's Lightning, however temporary. For one thing, he was able to meet Shōichi properly.

But it was witnessing Tsuna's ability to harmonize with _almost_ everyone he met that had Spanner fascinated. He had never been much for music...though he quickly bonded over robots, specifically the old Gundam series with Tsuna...but he could _feel_ Tsuna's Sky matching his Lightning with terrifying ease.

"How do you do that?"

Tsuna's was leaning against one of the chairs, with a pillow propped up under his chin.

"It's hard to explain. The best way I can put it is that I feel 'sounds' or 'songs'. With you, I hear the sound of an electric guitar playing some of the older American rock songs. Kyouya sounds like drums in the deep, or the thrum of a jungle, while Takeshi is the raging depths of the ocean, one who needs to be reminded not to fall so deep that he loses himself."

Spanner blinked.

"But I don't play music. I'm not like Shōichi," said Spanner.

"That's just the impression I get from your Flames. An electric guitar playing the older rock bands into your robots, bringing them to life. I just have to match my playing to the songs I hear from your soul," said Tsuna helplessly.

"What do you 'hear' from my soul?" asked Colonello interested.

"The sound of large gunfire, or possibly the sound of heavy bombardment. It's similar to the loud sound of a heavy downpour on a tin roof, but it's also playful and gentle," said Tsuna honestly.

Colonello blinked, before he grinned widely.

"What about Fon?" he asked.

"The dead silence of a hurricane's eye, the center so small that a single wrong step would send someone into the raging winds that will rip you apart. It is a very delicate balance...but there is absolute loyalty to those that have earned it's respect," replied Tsuna without hesitation.

Fon, when he heard that description later, looked very pleased at hearing something like that from Tsuna. Because it matched his soul perfectly.

"What about Iemitsu?" asked Colonello.

"Who?" asked Tsuna.

"The blond drifter who's ego you thoroughly crushed," clarified the Rain.

Tsuna's face went into that of disgust and annoyance.

"He is a lion who is so busy roaring that he can't hear the world around him, or notice that he is standing in the den of tigers. That the other animals got sick of hearing his narcissistic roar that his pride is limited to those who are oblivious to the fact he cannot hear them. If he has _any_ Guardians I would be VERY shocked," said Tsuna flatly, his voice blunt and cold.


	16. Chapter 16

The first Sun battle was terrifying, and Tsuna would honestly fear for Ryohei if he didn't have a trump card. Kyouya had been so pissed about the school being used as the stage that he didn't even complain much when he heard what Tsuna had planned to throw off their opponents.

So long as he removed whatever he was using _after_ the fights so that the boy didn't hijack the system during school hours, if even by accident.

It was such a small demand that Tsuna didn't argue.

Hearing the trumpeting morning bugle that one would find on any American army base to wake people up, Ryohei suddenly became energized, despite being half-dead before. Colonello had been so amused at the selection that he was trying not to laugh at the look on the Varia's faces when the speaker system suddenly went off like that.

No one even noticed that Tsuna had his phone in hand.

After though...

"Tsuna... did you hijack the speaker system?" demanded Reborn.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"To motivate my Guardians. You saw how quickly Ryohei made a turn around when I hit play. Music brought us together, so it can bring them a reminder who they are fighting for," said Tsuna.

Reborn tilted his hat. The worst part was that he couldn't _argue_ against it, because Tsuna was right.

"I highly doubt Spanner is as musical as you though."

"I ran it by him, he said the music selection was fine so long as I don't use the Beatles," said Tsuna. Then he frowned. "Besides... he said there was no way in hell Xanxus has a proper Cloud, especially if he's using that flawed piece of crap in it's place."

"Flawed piece of...?" repeated Reborn incredulous.

"That robot they have as their Cloud is one of Spanner's failed Moscas. He said he didn't know who he sold it to until now, but it was how he was able to fund some of his bigger projects. The problem is that the thing has a bad habit of going berserk if it can't fulfill it's programming, so he had to scrap the operating system. Spanner said that if they were using that, then odds are whoever is inside isn't there voluntarily... because the thing is run on Flames."

"What?!" yelped Dino, having come in and heard that.

"He just Activated his Flames and he had no idea what he was messing with until someone told him. He scrapped all but that last robot, which was the last of that particular line. He has no idea how the Varia got their hands on it," said Tsuna.

"Odds are the Vongola R and D bought it, and the Varia decided to appropriate it for themselves," said Reborn. "Which means this could be more complicated that I thought."

"Well at least we have forewarning."

"Any chance we could switch out whoever is inside with someone who won't be missed? I have the feeling this is going to blow up in our faces otherwise," asked Tsuna.

"Difficult, but doable," said Dino.

Spanner was grinning when Tsuna had AC/DC playing from the speakers. _Shoot to Thrill_ was a good song choice, though _Thunderstruck_ would have been just as good.

* * *

"Voi! This is getting ridiculous! Every time we're fighting these brats the speakers suddenly start playing music and they get a second wind!" complained Squalo.

"It is rather odd," said Lussuria. He had nearly jumped when he heard that trumpet playing without any warning.

"Shishishi... the peasants have decided to play a trick on us," said Belphegor.

"If it happens again I am destroying every speaker near me," growled Squalo. Because that was seriously annoying.

It did happen again, though the Storm's reaction was rather odd. Unlike the others, he seemed to relax somewhat, though there was a strange look in his eyes.

Seeing the brat hand his Storm a DVD did raise a lot of suspicion as to what was on it. Was it possible the kid was blackmailing the Smoking Bomb kid into acting as his Guardian?

Hayato was trying very hard not to cry. The music Tsuna had picked was all too familiar. And seeing the DVD play out, it made his heart weep.

Tsuna wrapped his arms around his Storm.

"It's okay to cry. We won't hold it against you Hayato," said Tsuna.

Feeling the warmth of his Sky around him, Hayato gave in and let go.

The song and DVD playing on the screen was of Lavina Gokudera...before she met his father, back when she was still becoming well known. It was an old concert, but seeing his mother on the piano before that man ruined her... it hurt. Like having a broken bone set.

Just hearing her voice and the way she played again... it loosened something in his chest. He quickly found himself stuck in the same puppy pile Tsuna had been in when he shot Birds.

They were reminding him he wasn't alone anymore. That he had a place he belonged, where he was _wanted_.

Hayato cried a little harder, just letting the sound of his mother playing Chopin wash over him.

"I asked Shōichi to look up her up to find any more recordings of her concerts, not to mention interviews. It's the least you deserve," said Tsuna gently.

"Thanks, Tsuna," said Hayato. He had been in such a bad place before, he hadn't even considered asking around for recordings. If anyone could find them, wherever they were buried, he was sure it was Shōichi.

If he happened to curl up against Tsuna that night, rather than try to sleep on his own, the other teen said nothing.

* * *

Xanxus was not happy. During _every_ single battle, the speakers would suddenly start up and begin playing some random bit of music and the brats would get their second wind. Well most of them. The Lightning was clearly a last minute substitute, and had mostly been amused by the whole music selection than actually energized by it.

Considering what he knew of the Sawada... no, the kid had publicly and vehemently denied all relation to the asshole... the _Decimo_ candidate's Lightning was a five year old from the Bovino familigia.

He couldn't really fault the kid for making a hurried substitution. Xanxus was a lot of things, but he would prefer to keep "child killer" off his resume, thank you very much. It was good to know that the kid at least had standards, to actually keep the little cow brat from fighting Levi.

He still won, but at least he didn't have the death of a child on his conscience.

The music though, was annoying and somewhat confusing. He couldn't see the purpose of it at all.

At least not until the Sky battle, when he saw what _Tsuna's_ weapon was.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. How is a violin a weapon?" said Xanxus in disbelief and no small amount of rage.

"You'd be surprised," the Sun Arcobaleno called out. He also sounded rather exasperated about the whole thing.

However the Arcobaleno (save for Mammon) were also aiming cameras in the kid's direction, as if they were eager to catch something on tape.

With the opening attack from Xanxus the _second_ the signal was given, he expected this to be an easy win.

Because honestly, a violin against two guns made to channel Flames and make them more explosive...it was no contest, right? Even if the kid apparently had a seal removed from that damn old man, it wasn't like he stood a chance.

Xanxus realized with some shock that his assessment the moment he dismissed the tiny teenager with the violin as a threat was wrong. So very, very wrong.

Yes, he wasn't attacking in the conventional sense (though he did have a gun stashed on his person, and was an _almost_ acceptable shot with it), but Xanxus could _feel_ the way the kid was actually attacking him.

Tsuna wasn't like most Skies, who pressed their Flames onto others directly and forced them to submit. His method was far more subtle and in a strange way, more terrifying.

He didn't force opposing Flames to submit or else. He used music to slide into _resonance_ with them, making them part of a larger harmony and nullifying their power against him.

The song, which had no rhyme or reason, felt like fire and wrath and destruction. It was like a dragon being formed purely of music, as if Tsuna were trying to give form to the sounds of Xanxus' _soul_ so that the world could hear them.

It was insane. It was like nothing he had heard before.

It felt like he was slowly finding a way _home_ , after all the years he spent just HATING the world, especially after being frozen.

The sound of the violin left him gasping for air, like he was drowning without water...

"The winner is Tsunayoshi Sawada."

Xanxus realized belatedly he had lost the ring, but couldn't remember when it happened.

All he knew was that the kid had _beaten_ him with nothing more than a violin and some very deceptive attacks using his Flames. He didn't even do it directly, like the Varia Sky had expected.

There was just something about the All-Encompassing Sky that the brat had that made it impossible to ignore.

Seeing the warm amber of Tsuna's eyes, he realized he had been soundly defeated and didn't know how or why.

"You know we don't have to be enemies. I mean I can tolerate you a hell of a lot more than I will ever tolerate that drifter," said Tsuna. His eyes went flat from annoyance. "And the less said about how annoyed I am with Timoteo the better."

Xanxus blinked.

"What's your beef with the old bastard?" asked Xanxus.

"He put a seal on me when I was _five_ that forcibly repressed my Active Flames but did absolutely nothing about the Sky Attraction that goes with it," said Tsuna flatly, irritated.

Xanxus stared.

"What trash was stupid enough to seal an _Active_ Sky?!" asked Xanxus incredulous, not bothering to hide his reaction. Even HE knew Skies were damn near sacred in the mafia, and that the familigias were more likely to adopt a stray Sky than _seal_ them.

The mere idea of doing something like that would have created a lynch mob of unbound Active Flames and the familigias after the idiot!

Reborn looked very irritated.

"Timoteo Vongola and Iemitsu Sawada. Iemitsu's excuse was that his son didn't _need_ Flames since he was supposed to be a civilian, and he didn't even bother to notice the damage it caused," said Reborn. "If you want to go after them you'll have to get in line. Fon's claimed first dibs since he's rather fond of Tsuna."

Xanxus looked rather pleased at the idea of joining the Arcobaleno in a much deserved beat down of two idiots.

He didn't have much love for his "father" after the man had frozen him for eight years, rather than do the actual kind thing and killed him.

Finding out Timoteo had made Xanxus' Elements suffer needlessly out of some poorly conceived idea of _kindness_ pissed him off more than the lying had. Learning the old man had _sealed_ a kid and condemned him to feeling a void in his soul for the bad luck of being born Sawada's son... if Xanxus ever needed a reason to genuinely believe Vongola Nono had lost his damn mind, that was proof enough for him.

And then Tsuna spotted Mammon. Since their fighting was over, he could finally ask the Mist something he considered more important than the Vongola.

They still needed a proper manager once they started producing their music, after all. Mammon might take a good chunk of the actual cash, but at least they would know what they were doing.

"Dammit Tsuna, you are _not_ corrupting the Varia with your music! It's bad enough you got Mukuro to act as your Mist that way!" said Reborn annoyed.

"I'm not trying to corrupt them with music. Though I would love to know where to find Viper, if only so I know who to contact when I finally have a recording of you singing."

Mammon perked up at that.

"Reborn, sing?" said Mammon, mouth twitching.

"I have it on good authority from Lambo's ten-years-older self that I blackmail him into it. I _will_ find a way to get a recording of that," said Tsuna darkly amused.

Mammon looked positively gleeful at the idea. They had been wanting blackmail on the Sun for _years_.

"For future reference, my old name was Viper before I took the name Mammon as my Varia codename," said the Mist gleefully.

"Oh good. Which means if I ever get that recording I should share it with you so we can get the most money out of it," said Tsuna cheerfully. He dodged the shot from Reborn.

Mammon's cackling at the idea only spoke volumes of how much they liked Tsuna's way of thinking.

"And the fact we still need a manager?"

"I've have to listen to your performance before I'd consider it. Though it does sound lucrative."

"We already have someone who knows how to translate the music into CD's, and has agreed to act as producer once they get the right equipment. The only thing he wants out of it is a portion of the sales to fund his research. I have it on good authority Shōichi and Spanner could easily keep up with Verde, but they lack the funding to do some of the more interesting projects... like the Mosca you guys used earlier."

"Mu. You certainly seem to have things in hand."

"I like music, and as far as I'm concerned being a mafia don is going to be my part time job," said Tsuna bluntly.

As one, any mafioso (save for Tsuna's Guardians, Spanner and Reborn) choked at the statement.


	17. Chapter 17

It was a good thing Mammon apparently liked Tsuna enough to teach his two Mists (the newly named Chrome and Mukuro made a scarily effective pair) how to create Mist bindings for their instruments. It meant Tsuna didn't have to worry about carrying things like his violin case and worrying about it constantly... or the sniper rifle Colonello insisted on giving the teen (and showing him how to use) just to piss off Reborn.

Seeing the Sun actually _sulk_ for days when Tsuna proved to be a better shot with the bigger gun than he was with the hand guns was hilarious, for multiple reasons. And then Reborn insisted on giving Tsuna a fedora of his own, complete with Sky-orange band and a musical note... as if he were trying to claim the tiny Sky as HIS student, not Colonello's.

It was ridiculously funny, but Tsuna didn't say a word or dare to laugh at how silly Reborn was being about the whole matter.

Colonello had no such reservations, and Tsuna had recordings of the two arguing (read: shooting at each other like mad while shouting profanities) for blackmail. The fact he had to have Fon hold the camera (because Tsuna was shaking too much from repressed laughter, whereas Fon had better control...despite being amused himself) said volumes.

Fon was the first person to receive a copy of that video, because it was too funny not to have.

In any case, Tsuna at least had _supplies_ when it happened. One minute he was about to head to another practice session with the kids, the next he heard Lambo getting kicked by Reborn into the street, only for that damn bazooka to go off.

Right. At. Him.

Tsuna was so going to spend more time with Colonello and Fon, just to annoy Reborn. Who knew the Sun was so...possessive...when it came to his students?

A few things became quickly apparent once the smoke cleared.

One, he was not in his own time. Two, he was almost certainly in Italy at the very least. Three, he still had his supplies (some of which were going to be useless, or draw too much attention). Four, the five minute limit had passed twelve minutes ago... he had checked by looking at his watch, so he knew that for a fact.

Good thing he learned Italian just to be able to keep up with Hayato, though he rarely got to practice it much.

Tsuna took out the fedora Reborn had given him and put it on. If he really _was_ in Italy, then his appearance was going to draw enough attention without advertising the fact he wasn't from around here. Besides, he looked way too much like the Primo for people who associated with the Vongola enough to see the old portraits to _miss_.

He wandered around, trying to 'feel' out the familiar 'songs' of his friends, and was dismayed to only hear a bare whisper that was too weak for him to follow from their end. Either they were too far away, or he had gone back farther than he thought.

It was close to lunch (it was early morning, wherever he was) when his stomach began to growl. Just one look at the town around him told him that trying to ask for a bank to exchange funds was pointless.

The first thing he had done once he woke up was check for a cell signal and found nothing. Going into town confirmed his suspicions that he was in the past.

He didn't see a single cell phone or anything more advanced than electric lamps since he got here. There weren't even any cars, but there were a _lot_ of carriages and horses.

Tsuna had a few options.

He could try his luck at picking pockets. He could rely on the charity of strangers. He could go hungry.

Or he could hopefully play for his lunch and if he were really lucky, dinner and a room too.

Who was he kidding? The second he realized he was in the past, in _Italy_ of all places he already knew what he his best option for survival until he found a way back was.

Thank Kami-sama for Mist bindings. A few seconds to hide what he was actually doing, and finding a small fountain in the middle of a decently busy area perfect for his purpose, Tsuna "took the stage" as it were with his violin.

He may not have done this before, but he knew the general gist.

Play loud enough for everyone to take an interest, leave the case open close by, and hope people liked it enough to drop a few coins. The sight of someone playing an instrument with an open case was damn near universal for a musician playing for his supper. And with the hat to obscure his features, he was almost in his comfort zone.

And so Tsuna played. He fell into the odd zone he always found himself in while he allowed his hands to call forth what could only be described as magic by others.

He played ten songs, and found his case had several 'donations' from happy listeners. He might not recognize the currency, but he knew it was more than enough for a room and food. Thank kami numbers were damn near universal.

With a full belly, Tsuna began looking around at the town properly. Fortunately his outfit didn't attract _too_ much attention. The fact he learned instinctively how to be in perfect harmony with his surroundings helped.

Reborn had been rather annoyed he couldn't train Tsuna like he had Dino in that respect. He had an entire mine field prepared where he would have had Tsuna try to get out by 'sensing' the low-grade mines already prepared.

Tsuna had managed to find the one safe pathway, which twisted and turned, without a second thought.

The Sun had been pouting for _days_ when he figured out Tsuna had learned that trick years ago once he started playing the violin regularly. Being in harmony with one's surroundings made it harder for a Sky to be ambushed...or in Tsuna and Dino's case, dealing with Reborn's idea of training... and it made it much harder for people to realize you didn't belong.

Tsuna learned it purely because whenever he was in harmony, the bullies tended to glance over him like he wasn't there. He became as close to invisible as one could get.

Eating his dinner, which was some form of stew, Tsuna observed.

He found out a few things. For one, he was apparently in mafia territory, which had him doing something rather unusual.

He allowed his Sky flames to spread everywhere, almost like a cloud around the town. Between that and the fact he was naturally in harmony with his surroundings, no one would be able to tell what sort of Flame he had.

They'd know he was Active, but not the type.

It had frustrated Reborn to no end that his student could pull a stunt like that...and he had been forced to learn it so young just to survive _civilians_. That he lived in fear of his peers because of a seal that should never have been used in the first place.

He also learned the basic date and what was considered "big news" for the past couple of months.

The date had almost made him start. The names he kept picking up on definitely cemented his growing horror.

He was in the _Primo's_ time?!

Why couldn't his life be simple?

The bed was acceptable, but now that he had a general idea of where and _when_ he was, he had a loose plan.

He could stick around, being a wandering musician and end up busted by a familigia.

Not.

Or he could head in the general direction of the Vongola familigia and hope for the best.

Sadly, the music school he had heard about in Vienna from Reborn didn't exist in this time yet. Which was a shame, because that would have been his first destination.

He made sure to get enough food to last him for a few days, that could be eaten on the road. If nothing else he'd do what he did before, and play for his supper.

* * *

 _Two days later..._

Tsuna's luck was in, for once. He managed to bum a ride because he didn't mind sharing food with a little girl. The fact he figured out how to play his violin while they traveled made it a lot easier for the group to let him share space on the wagon.

He made sure to keep the songs lighthearted and fun. It made the journey that much less boring.

Soon he was deep in Vongola controlled territory, a stone's throw from the mansion.

He wasn't about to waltz up to their home and tell them who he was.

He wasn't stupid, and this was more of a precaution than anything.

If he was going to be noticed by any familigia, he'd rather it be the one he was already associated with, or would be.

* * *

"Giotto, reign in your Flames. The way you're spreading them about is seriously pissing me off," said Daemon crossly. Ever since he lost Elena, he had found his friendship with Giotto fraying with increasing regularity.

"I hate to say this, but I agree with Daemon. Knock it off Giotto," said G.

Giotto looked annoyed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said irritable. He felt something, like a flicker on his senses, but that was about it. It was too thin for him to tell what the hell it was.

"Giotto, why are your Flames spread all over the area like a cloud?" demanded Alaude more than a little irritable.

"I'm not the one doing it!" protested Giotto loudly. "Why do you automatically assume it's _my_ fault?!"

"Because it feels almost _exactly_ like your Flames," said G flatly.

Seeing the agreeing nods of the others, Giotto resisted growling, barely.

As they came closer to the town just outside their home, Giotto finally noticed it. He sat up.

"What the blazes?"

Realizing it _wasn't_ Giotto causing the almost 'cloud' of Sky around the town, the others tensed.

Whoever was doing this was strong, possibly as strong as Giotto when he was serious. They were also clever...by spreading their Flames so thin it was damn near impossible to pinpoint where the source was. Asari tried to spread his Rain around, as if to detect the culprit...only for him to have a knee-jerk reaction to the Flames.

"What is it?" asked Alaude immediately.

"Try reaching out with your Flames," said Asari, in disbelief.

Alaude frowned, but Knuckle cautiously reached out. Like Asari he nearly jolted from shock.

"What happened?"

"It's... whoever is doing this almost managed to perfectly match my Flames. Like it was _resonating_ ," said Knuckle, eyes wide.

Giotto carefully reached out... and his eyes went wide.

The Sky Flames in the air were powerful...but they almost immediately came into a near perfect resonance with his own Sky Flames.

 _And that shouldn't be possible_.

There were cases of Harmony happening rather quickly, but not this fast. Instant harmony was unheard of and could be a powerful weapon in the wrong hands.

Elements killed just for the regular kind, to have a home that was unquestionably _theirs_.

This sort of thing would have them up in arms and ready to start a real fight over it.

Needless to say Giotto was absolutely worried. There was no telling what sort of Sky was causing this.

As they got closer to the village square, they all sat up hearing the sound of a violin playing.

They paused, and shared a look. Whoever was playing was very good, and the sound was light and carefree.

Daemon and Asari in particular looked rather eager to hear it up close, but with this Sky it was likely Giotto would have them hunting the mystery Sky first.

Giotto had other plans. He knew Daemon had been hurting greatly after what happened to Elena, and this might soothe a little bit of the pain he still felt over her death.

"Let's go hear this musician first, and then look for the Sky tomorrow. We're all exhausted anyway," said Giotto.

Seeing the light in the eyes of his Guardians, he knew he made the right call.

What he expected and what they found were two different things.

It was a kid, or a very small teen. His face was more or less obscured by a custom fedora with a Sky-orange band that had a musical note on the left side. He was wearing a well-loved vest, and he held the violin like it was part of him, with crisp, beautiful notes playing from the strings. He couldn't possibly be older than sixteen or seventeen, at the most, or thirteen at the least. He had caramel colored hair and fair skin, and was rather skinny.

Giotto noted the rather large amount of coins and the odd bill in the violin case.

He didn't recognize the song, but it was rather fun and uplifting. And it took him a few seconds to realize Daemon was smiling. Honest to god _smiling_ for the first time in months.

The boy casually switched songs, and Giotto watched in amazement as Daemon seemed to relax where he was. Like a weight was being lifted from his shoulders that he didn't know was there.

It was a miracle, something all his guardians save the Mist seemed to pick up on.

Naturally Alaude had to meet this mystery violinist, if only to find out what _exactly_ he did to cause such a reaction. Only for the boy to collect his case, and somehow vanish in plain sight, right in front of them.

"A ghost?" questioned G.

Alaude's eyes narrowed.

"No. I highly doubt a ghost would take the money as well," said Alaude. Giotto agreed with that assessment.

The Sky Flames had yet to fully dissipate, but they weren't as obvious now. It took Daemon a few second to blink himself out of whatever good mood the music had put him in.

"That was rather strange."


	18. Chapter 18

Surprisingly, it wasn't Alaude who was the most...dedicated...to finding the mystery Sky. Though Daemon was more focused on the little violinist.

It took him scarcely a few hours to find the boy, whereas Alaude was busy looking for the Sky instead.

"How did you do that?" asked Daemon bluntly.

"Do what?" asked the boy, in slightly accented Italian. Daemon narrowed his eyes... he recognized the slight accent pretty quick.

Asari had a similar one when Giotto first met him, at least until he became fluent in the language. He still had it when he was suitably flustered.

"You did something yesterday that had my Flames openly relaxing. It was enough that my comrades noticed the difference immediately," said Daemon bluntly.

The boy stared at him. It was almost like he was looking at a younger, warmer Giotto. Almost.

"What are Flames?"

Daemon glared at him openly.

"Don't lie. I can tell you're Active, so don't try to hide it."

The boy flinched a little at being caught.

"Fine, I noticed you were barely resonant with that Sky you were with and I was trying to keep you from losing the little harmony you have left with him," admitted the boy.

"What?" said Daemon in shock.

"Your Flames are starting to fall out of harmony with your Sky," said the boy bluntly. "Right now you're on _similar_ wavelengths and once held the same harmony, but right now it's starting to fall apart. It's not like I could _miss_ it."

The best way to describe what he noticed was that five of the six people were playing the same song in perfect harmony... but the Mist before him had started to deviate to a similar song that was slowly drifting out of sync with the rest. It might sound similar to the average person, but to someone with his skills could tell the difference.

Daemon narrowed his eyes at the boy. How in the hell did he know that he had slowly started to feel like his harmony with Giotto was falling apart?

He could tell that trying to drag the boy to the mansion would cause a big mess... but considering he was playing to earn money, perhaps a different incentive could be used.

"How would you like to earn a lot of coin playing your violin?"

The boy's eyes went flat.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch. My Sky was impressed with your playing when he heard it and I'm sure Asari would love to discuss music with you. He used to play the flute."

And if he was right, then this boy was the source of the Sky Flames they felt.

* * *

Alaude was not happy seeing the violinist in the mansion, regardless of what Daemon's reasoning was. The boy was an anomaly of the highest order.

Especially since the boy went to great pains to hide his full features from him.

It took a little doing, but he was able to swipe the fedora from the boy's head before he had a chance to stop him.

"What's the matter, do you have some sort of disfigurement or something?" joked Lampo, seeing the kid trying hide his face.

The kid winced, before he let them see his face.

There was a stunned silence in the room.

"What the hell?!" said G, practically leaping out of his chair.

"This is exactly why I was wearing a hat," he complained.

He could have passed for a younger, more tired Giotto. Though some of his features were off, the resemblance was very shocking.

"How..." started Giotto.

The kid sighed, before he reached for something around his neck. It had taken a very long argument from Reborn before he agreed to at least wear it around his neck, rather than toss it in the case and forget about it.

The second they saw the familiar ring, Giotto's heart damn near stopped. He looked at the ring on his right hand and then at the one the kid had on his neck.

They were almost identical, except the older one was _sealed_.

"Who are you?" demanded Alaude, now pissed off. He didn't like unknowns.

The kid sighed.

"My name is Tsunayoshi, though everyone calls me Tsuna. I'm the Decimo heir, thought not by choice."

Giotto sagged into his chair.

"Decimo?" he repeated. "What do you mean not by choice?"

"The previous three heirs were all killed and the fourth was... well, there was a mess involving certain secrets that should never have been withheld from him. I was the only one left to take it," said Tsuna tiredly.

"If you are Decimo, then how are you here?" asked Daemon.

"Long story short, there is a familigia who created something called the Ten Year Bazooka and the thing misfired. It's only supposed to last for five minutes, but apparently my luck decided to hate me, because I'm still here."

"You're the Sky that was seeding the town earlier," said Giotto, staring.

"Well yeah. It's easier to hide that way. Between spreading my Flames so thin, and being naturally in harmony with my surroundings it's easier to hide. I've had way too much practice with the second one though," said Tsuna tiredly.

"What do you mean, way too much practice?" repeated Giotto.

"I _hate_ Sky Attraction," said Tsuna flatly. Which was all he would say about the matter. "And it's not like I could come up to this place and say 'Hey, I'm your many-times descendant' without being looked at like a lunatic."

Well he had a point there.

"Why were you in the town then?" countered Alaude.

"Because I know perfectly well that the mafia has a thing for Skies that aren't already attached to a familigia and I had no desire to be dragged into one that I am not already stuck with," said Tsuna flatly. "It's bad enough I got dragged into being part of the Vongola, I am not dealing with people who will only see me as cannon fodder in this era on top of trying to pressure me into taking Guardians with their own agendas."

Giotto stared at him in shock.

"What do you mean, mafia? We're a vigilante group!"

Tsuna gave him a flat look. He was hungry, tired and just irritable at being found out so fast. All he wanted to do was hide until the stupid effects wore off.

Being around a suspicious Cloud only made his mood worse. He could feel the man's Flames spike with suspicion of someone in their territory that they didn't trust.

"I don't know where you got that idea, but at some point after the Primo, I/E you left to live out the rest of your life in Japan, the Vongola went from vigilante to one of the bloodiest mafia families in existence. It's strong, but it became that way through far too many blood and tears," said Tsuna. "I have no idea what caused it either, because the Sun Arcobaleno only touched on the history aspect when he figured out I wasn't an idiot like the file CEDEF had on me claimed I was."

Tsuna looked deliberately at Daemon.

"And to be honest I'm more concerned with the fact you're not even _trying_ to deal with the fact your Mist is slowly becoming Dissonant with you."

Giotto blinked.

"What."

"His 'song' is falling out of tune with yours. It's hard not to notice it, especially since I'm so used to hearing Flames as music," said Tsuna bluntly.

"That's impossible. You can't fall out of harmony once you have it," said Giotto.

"If you honestly believe that, then you are an idiot. People change all the time, and it's the Sky's duty to make sure that their Guardians remain in tune, not them. Why else are Clouds considered the most difficult of the seven to Harmonize with?" Tsuna countered. "Harmony is all about compromise."

Seeing Giotto wasn't convinced, Tsuna tried another tactic.

"Can you honestly say you are the same person you were ten years ago? What about five? Obviously something happened that caused his Flame to slip out of the harmony, something that has you at odds with him," said Tsuna.

"He has a point. I, for one, am a different person after we managed to get the Vongola up and running," said Asari. "And you two _have_ been arguing more than normal lately."

"I can put it into perspective if you like. I know Reborn once commented on how odd it was that I could go into resonance with others, despite only meeting them once."

"By all means," said Giotto.

Tsuna started playing a song that had Daemon's interest. It seemed to call to his soul far too well, even if he had no idea what it was...then after a certain point it seemed to change to something almost light. It sounded the same, but the tune fell away from resonating with his soul.

"I can't tell the difference," said Giotto.

"That's because you haven't heard the lyrics that play with it."

" _Do you hear the people sing?_

 _Singing the song of angry men?_

 _It is the music of a people_

 _Who will not be slaves again!_

 _When the beating of your heart_

 _Echoes the beating of the drums_

 _There is a life about to start_

 _When tomorrow comes_

 _Will you join in our crusade?_

 _Who will be strong and stand with me?_

 _Beyond the barricade_

 _Is there a world you long to see?_

 _Then join in the fight_

 _That will give you the right to be free!_

 _Do you hear the people sing?_

 _Singing the song of angry men?_

 _It is the music of a people_

 _Who will not be slaves again!_

 _When the beating of your heart_

 _Echoes the beating of the drums_

 _There is a life about to start_

 _When tomorrow comes!_

 _Will you give all you can give_

 _So that our banner may advance_

 _Some will fall and some will live_

 _Will you stand and take your chance_

 _The blood of the martyrs_

 _Will water the meadows of France!_

 _Do you hear the people sing?_

 _Singing the song of angry men?_

 _It is the music of a people_

 _Who will not be slaves again!_

 _When the beating of your heart_

 _Echoes the beating of the drums_

 _There is a life about to start_

 _When tomorrow comes!"_

"That is what I keep hearing playing over and over in _his_ heart."

"And ours?" asked Giotto.

Tsuna's next song sounded _very_ similar to the first, but the tone was completely different.

" _Do you hear the people sing_

 _Lost in the valley of the night?_

 _It is a music of a people_

 _Who are climbing to the light_

 _For the wretched of the earth_

 _There is a flame that never dies_

 _Even the darkest night will end_

 _And the sun will rise_

 _We will live again in freedom_

 _In the garden of the Lord_

 _We will walk behind the plowshare_

 _We will put away the sword_

 _The chain will be broken_

 _And all men will have their reward_

 _Will you join in our crusade_

 _Who will be strong and stand with me_

 _Somewhere beyond the barricade_

 _Is there a world you long to see?_

 _Do you hear the people sing_

 _Say do you hear the distant drums_

 _It is the future that they bring_

 _When tomorrow comes_

 _Will you join in our crusade_

 _Who will be strong and stand with me_

 _Somewhere beyond the barricade_

 _Is there a world you long to see?_

 _Do you hear the people sing_

 _Say do you hear the distant drums_

 _It is the future that they bring_

 _When tomorrow comes!"_

That song definitely resonated with Giotto and the others. But for Daemon, it was a distant echo.

"What song is that?" asked Knuckle.

"It's called 'Do you hear the people sing?' from a musical called _Les Mis_ _é_ _rables_. The other one is the ending song, when the main character passes on after years of hiding who he really was from everyone, when his mortal enemy had long since committed suicide when he couldn't bear the revelation that maybe he was wrong about the ex-con," said Tsuna.

"What's a musical?" asked Giotto.

"Think of a shorter opera that feels more like a play," said Tsuna wisely. "Like I said, Daemon's soul feels like he's still making a call to arms, whereas your souls all feel like you've made peace with your life and are ready to put the sword down save to defend your family and home."

Giotto winced. Most of the arguments he kept having with Daemon revolved around the fact he was letting the Vongola armies be disbanded. It had really pissed the Mist off, though to be fair he was still reeling from losing his wife Elena.

With how busy he had been lately, he really didn't have much of a chance to _properly_ talk with Daemon about how he was handling her death, and there only seemed to be friction between him and his Mist as a result.

His descendant might actually be on to something, saying that he was starting to fall away from Giotto's Sky.


	19. Chapter 19

**For those of you with pets, I have Go Fund Me page. Just add /tsukis-vet-visit to find it. It'll also link you straight to my facebook profile and I do accept friend requests!**

* * *

Tsuna was a bit of an oddity in the Vongola mansion. He drifted from Guardian to Guardian and was always playing the violin. Eventually Asari managed to convince him to a duet, once he located a flute that was similar to the one he once owned.

Tsuna honestly had no idea that Asari's family had made him trade in his beloved flute for the family sword, stating that if he were going to follow a "foreigner", then he would have to make a sacrifice to the family gods worthy of his commitment.

Which explained why the flute had been in storage for so long.

Asari had laughed himself to hiccups upon hearing his descendant's first attempts to play that same flute ended up with him getting a mouthful of dust for his troubles.

Strangely, the ones Tsuna spent the most time with were Daemon and Alaude.

Even though Alaude was still highly suspicious of the time traveler, he found the boy was tolerable to be around.

It helped that Tsuna treated him the same way he treated a "less violent" Kyouya. Because the similarities were terrifying and the only real difference he saw was that Alaude wasn't threatening to bite everyone to death.

As for Daemon, the Mist gravitated more to the younger Sky since Giotto rarely had the chance to simply sit down and _talk_ with him. Whereas Tsuna at least listened to his side and provided constructive comments that didn't piss him off immediately.

That...and Daemon was fascinated with the way Tsuna could apparently "hear" Flames to the point he used it as a reference for harmonizing with others. Hearing his own "song" played on the violin with an expert hand was strange.

Tsuna had put into music the way Daemon's actually felt. He hadn't even noticed he was slowly drifting away from Giotto after Elena died.

"You must have had a good tutor to play so well," commented G one night.

Tsuna winced.

"I'm self taught."

Giotto and the others stared at him.

"Now that I find hard to believe," said Giotto finally.

"I was bullied a lot when I was a kid, especially after I was five. After I found this old violin in an abandoned classroom, I decided to try my luck learning how to play. I sounded terrible at first, but a lack of friends actually helped because I had a lot of free time to learn how to play properly. It wasn't until my Cloud found out about me being able to play that I got better because I didn't have to hide what I was doing so much," said Tsuna sheepishly.

Giotto frowned.

"Why would you have to hide?"

"Because I have a reputation that's not entirely my fault and everyone believes it," said Tsuna miserably. "It wasn't until I started playing the violin properly that I even managed to make friends at all."

"It couldn't be that bad."

"I was known as No-Good Tsuna, because my grades, athletic ability and reputation was the worst of the entire school. It was so bad that I was the frequent target of bullies and harassment from the teachers," deadpanned Tsuna. "The last thing I wanted was for my classmates and peers to mock me for learning how to play, because that would have killed any interest I had in it."

Giotto winced.

"Sounds like you had a crappy childhood," said G bluntly.

"Well it would have been better if the idiot who claims he's my father hadn't convinced Vongola Nono to put a seal on me when I was _five_. I could have accepted it if it had been done while I was still a Latent Sky, but they put it on me after I had recently activated my Flames while he was visiting," said Tsuna annoyed. "That stupid seal really screwed me over, because it not only messed up my motor functions but it made my head feel like it was swimming in cold syrup whenever I tried to do homework. And it did _nothing_ about the Sky Attraction that comes from being Active."

Giotto choked on his wine.

"Someone put a seal on a Flame active child that young?" said Giotto properly horrified.

Tsuna had a tired smile on his face.

"Let's just say I developed a rather interesting way of getting around the seal by the time I became competent with the violin. Reborn was pouting for a week when he figured out why I was so good at harmonizing with others using my music, or why I could 'hear' Flames in the first place."

Daemon nodded.

"That would do it. Your flame would be trying to break from the seal, and music emphasizes harmony, especially with groups. Something Skies specialize in," said Daemon. It made a lot of sense in an odd way.

Tsuna's grin suddenly turned positively evil... almost like Daemon when he was in a mischievous mood or Giotto when he was about to pull a prank he found hilarious.

"My tutor still hasn't stopped swearing when he found out I was actually corrupting my Guardians into playing music. And several others who came into contact with me."

"This I have to hear," said Giotto grinning.

"I blackmailed my Mist and his two friends into playing the cello, saxophone and the drums. And I got my Rain to play the flute that Asari-san gave up. And you know those big drums they play during the Obon festival?" he asked the Rain, who nodded amused. "I convinced my Cloud to try playing one of those and he agreed if only to keep me from bothering him again. Last I checked the shrine wanted to hire _him_ rather than someone from Kyoto to play during the big festivals."

Giotto looked at Alaude, imagining him playing the drums and started snickering.

"And let's not forget I managed to corrupt my Sun, who has an 'extreme' lung capacity, into playing the trumpet. His sister was thrilled he had a less violent hobby other than boxing and training, even if he still needs to work on his playing," snickered Tsuna.

"What about your Storm?" asked Giotto, trying hard not to laugh. A musical Sky and his Guardians... it was so silly it was hilarious.

"His mom trained him how to play piano before her death. I learned Italian because he kept accidentally switching between that and my native Japanese while we talked for hours about music composition and different composers," admitted Tsuna. "It was because he wanted to play a duet that he was able to play it again."

Giotto lost it. The idea of his descendant gaining Guardians through music was too funny for him not to laugh.

Tsuna grinned.

"Like I told Reborn when he said I wasn't getting out of being Decimo, I fully intend to make running the Vongola my part time job, because there is no way I'm letting the mafia run my life like Nono planned. Every other don before me fell for that trap, and I refuse to do the same. If they don't like it, then tough. Besides, musicians make better money and don't have to fill out as much paperwork."

Daemon snickered, before he started laughing in that weird way of his.

He liked this kid. He liked him a lot.

* * *

Tsuna was drifting around the mansion when he 'heard' it.

His head jerked towards the direction it came from.

"Is something the matter?" asked G, passing by.

"If I didn't know any better I'd swear I could hear Hayato," said Tsuna confused. "Possibly Takeshi as well. It's really faint though."

There were three Guardians that Tsuna was close to, to the point he could identify them by 'feel' or 'sound' alone.

Hayato, Takeshi and oddly enough Kyouya. So the fact he could sense two of the three, despite the sound being very, very faint, was surprising.

"I'm sure it's nothing," said G.

"Delivering more papers for Giotto?" said Tsuna. G nodded. Tsuna picked up half of them, lessening the load.

"Think you could play for him? He seems to get it done faster when you do," said G.

Tsuna smiled at him. Then again Giotto didn't try to escape as much if Tsuna was there to 'mind' him and keep him occupied.

* * *

 _Three days later..._

" _Dammit Takeshi, I'm telling you this is a bad idea!"_

 _"Ahaha... well it's not like it could hurt, right?"_

" _We're in the past, you idiot! It's not like they'd believe us, even with the rings!"_

Tsuna watched as Alaude came up from behind the bickering duo, and proceeded to put the fear of god into Hayato. Tsuna snickered as the Cloud grabbed both of the two teens and dragged them into Giotto's office.

"What the hell?!" said G in shock.

"Well this is unexpected," said Asari, smiling.

"There's more of them..." groaned Giotto.

Takeshi looked confused, but Hayato was still reeling from seeing the Hibari-look-alike with blond hair. It didn't help they were still talking in Italian.

Before the Storm could even try to make his case, he was suddenly tackled to the group by a familiar caramel-haired missile.

"Hayato! Takeshi! You guys managed to find me!"

"Tsuna! Thank god... we feared the worst when that stupid bazooka went off and you didn't come back," said Hayato in relief.

" _Ahaha... Tsuna, when are we exactly?"_ asked Takeshi in Japanese. He wasn't that good with Italian and had relied on Hayato to translate until this point.

" _Vongola Primo's time. Basically the first generation of the Vongola familigia, before things went bloody,"_ explained Tsuna succinctly in the same language. Takeshi nodded, before he registered what Tsuna just said.

He immediately looked at Asari, and realized who he was looking at.

" _Good thing I brought the flute then,"_ said Takeshi nodding. Tsuna snickered.

"So I take it you know these two, Tsuna?" asked Giotto.

"This is my Storm and good friend Hayato Gokudera. He plays the piano. And this is my Rain and the second friend I made, Takeshi Yamamoto. He plays your old flute, Asari-san."

Asari grinned.

" _So you're the young one who got a mouth full of dust because you forgot to clean the flute before playing,"_ said Asari laughing. He found that fact hilarious. Takeshi gave Tsuna an amused look... of course he would tell that story to the man who originally owned it.

"So if your Rain is your second friend, who was your first?" asked Giotto.

"Kyouya, my Cloud. Though that was mostly because he was annoyed by all the rumors of a ghost violinist and tracked me down. He said I either played on the roof while he was up there, or I play outside the school because he was tired of the 'herbivores' disturbing the rooms trying to find the ghost," admitted Tsuna with a laugh.

* * *

Takeshi and Asari got along scarily well. On the plus side, Takeshi's flute playing was never better, since Asari could at least teach the younger Rain little tricks he knew for such an old instrument.

"Hey, what do you say we play something as a trio? It's been forever since I got to do more than play a solo," said Tsuna.

"I'm game," said Hayato grinning. Takeshi nodded in agreement, already guessing what Tsuna had in mind from his tone alone.

"How about we do soundtracks? I keep thinking the song _'Journey to the Past'_ and _'Once Upon a December'_ from the _Anastasia_ moviefor some weird reason," said Tsuna.

"So long as you don't sing. You can barely carry a tune, for all your skill with the violin," chuckled Hayato. Tsuna blushed.

"At least I can memorize the lyrics," said Tsuna.

"Too bad Onii-san and Chrome aren't here. They'd probably enjoy playing those songs," said Hayato.

" _Can you guys switch back to Japanese? I'm still on the bare bones of Italian,_ " asked Takeshi.

" _Sorry Takeshi,"_ said Tsuna. _"Maybe Daemon can implant the language in your head or something later, to help bring you up to speed."_

" _I'll ask him later. He reminds me of a grumpier Mukuro,"_ said Takeshi nervously.

He honestly didn't think it was possible to find a more pissed off version of Mukuro. Their Mist was vengeful enough as it was!

" _How did you guys end up here anyway?"_

" _Shōichi and Spanner managed to figure out how to reverse engineer the ammo enough to do a target drop. It took us_ forever _to figure out where you landed,"_ said Hayato grumpily. _"Of course Shōichi and Spanner fainted when Reborn managed to bring Verde in to help them."_

Tsuna snickered.

" _Are any of the others going to join us?"_

" _They might try to send someone with the bazooka to try and fix this mess. Apparently when Reborn kicked Lambo it hit a rock hard enough to hit some sort of switch inside the bazooka and cause the initial malfunction,"_ said Hayato. _"They sent us because we're closest to you...that and we're your Right and Left hand respectively."_

Tsuna smiled at them both...and pointedly ignored how Giotto was clearly trying to get out of his paperwork again.

At least until Alaude grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him to his office to finish it, like a misbehaving dog. It was rather entertaining to watch, actually.

With the windows and doors all open, and the ambient sound of the outside world not being drowned out by cars and technology, the clear sound of the three playing could be heard all over the grounds. It was rather nice to listen to, and made everyone smile by the time dinner rolled around.


	20. Chapter 20

"You want us to _what_?" said Tsuna in shock.

"There's an annual ball coming up next week, and I want you three to take over the music," said Giotto.

"Why?"

"Actually that's how we found you," said Hayato. "Reborn found a mention in the old archives that during one of the Vongola balls during the Primo's time there was a trio of unknown musicians who disappeared rather suddenly shortly after it. The three played violin, piano and flute...which the main reason why we were picked to come."

Giotto looked disappointed hearing that.

"So you're going to be returning to your own time after the ball?"

"Sometime shortly after it," said Hayato.

"Don't mind him Hayato, he's just sad he's going to lose his new favorite excuse for ditching paperwork," snickered Tsuna.

"Tsuna is too mean!" whined Giotto.

Seeing G sneak up behind the man with an annoyed expression on his face, Hayato carefully did not laugh when the older Storm grabbed his Sky by the ear and dragged him off. He did snicker a bit though.

"Please don't become like that," said Hayato.

"You kidding? I'd rather finish the stupid paperwork early so I can play more," said Tsuna dismissively. It's why homework was always done first, so he didn't have to worry about it later and have it affect his performance.

It was one thing Reborn _didn't_ complain about with Tsuna's music obsession.

"So what should we play?" asked Tsuna.

"We'd need the ball's theme, before we could come up with set pieces. And it would have to be something Takeshi recognizes..." said Hayato seriously.

The two immediately started talking shop, tossing about composers and pieces, before dismissing one or agreeing to another based on theme.

There was a reason Tsuna liked Hayato best out of his Guardians, next to Kyouya.

Lampo went five feet into the room and slowly walked away. He didn't want to get caught up in whatever they were plotting, because Giotto only acted like that when he was up to mischief.

* * *

"You nervous?" asked Hayato.

"I was playing for my supper until Daemon busted me, so not really," said Tsuna with a shrug. Hayato blinked.

"You what?"

"Well it's not like I had any of the currency from here!" said Tsuna embarrassed.

"And that right there disproves any evidence of you having stage fright," deadpanned Hayato.

"Ahaha... well at least we know Tsuna's good at finding ways to survive. And it was thanks to you he didn't stand out _too_ much," said Takeshi.

Daemon had agreed to "implant" the knowledge base for Italian from Asari's mind... and if the Rain happened to slip a few things about the flute, well, no one commented on it. By the end of the week Takeshi was speaking the language _almost_ as fluently as Tsuna was when he first started.

Giotto had noticed however, that Daemon seemed to gravitate more to Tsuna than to him. Any doubts he had on Tsuna's warning that his Mist was drifting away from him were burning away when he realized that.

It was too bad Daemon couldn't go with them, since they were from several centuries in the future.

"So we're going to do like usual? Follow Tsuna's lead?" asked Takeshi.

Hayato nodded. Tsuna had a habit of naturally pulling in other players, to the point that it all sounded like one cohesive unit. Which considering he was a Sky who had learned to express his Flames through music, wasn't that shocking.

Though Hayato was thoroughly entertained when Tsuna got bored one day and started using his sniper rifle to scare the hell out of Giotto and his Guardians while they were out shopping. They might have been modified paint ball rounds (how that worked, no one really knew...but Colonello loved them and got Tsuna hooked on the sport), but the sight of Giotto and his men returning to the manor looking like someone had dumped several rounds of paint on them...save for Daemon who was hiding behind his Mist and looking thoroughly entertained... had the trio laughing.

Giotto had pouted for _days_ finding out Tsuna had pranked him and good. Alaude had not been amused at all. Of course that could have been the red dye they put in his shampoo that made him look like G's long lost brother.

Giotto had more or less forgiven him for the sniping after that. He still couldn't stop laughing when he thought about it.

And then things got really weird, because Tsuna bribed Daemon into helping him prank the rest of them. Giotto had pink hair, Asari had a fluorescent blue, G came out with a bright traffic cone orange, Lampo had a very vivid purple and indigo combination, Knuckle had a blood red color and Alaude damn near gelded them for the sea green hair until he found out it was a Mist illusion.

Daemon had laughed himself into hiccups when the guys finally realized it was all an illusion and dispelled it to reveal their normal hair colors...unaware Tsuna and his two Guardians had recorded the whole thing on their phones for later enjoyment. It was a pity they couldn't print them out just yet, but totally worth avoiding Alaude over for some "extra training".

Giotto took it all with good humor. Mostly. Even if he was still grumbling over the pink hair.

"Are you done plotting a world takeover?" asked G, with Daemon close behind him. They still had to add the illusion after all.

Tsuna tilted his head.

"But I still have to take over the Vongola. Converting the world to music can wait until after I've graduated from my schooling," said Tsuna innocently.

Hayato choked while Takeshi laughed.

It took them a few seconds to register that Tsuna didn't sound like he was joking _at all_.

Hayato groaned.

"You know Reborn is never going to let you hear the end of it if you convert the entire world to your music, right?"

"Well at least it won't be boring!" said Tsuna cheerfully... which had Daemon laughing in his creepy way.

It was official... he liked the Decimo far more than he did the Primo. Even if Tsuna's way of "converting" people was slightly odd and not as violent as he would have liked, the fact he was openly considering taking over the world meant that Daemon automatically liked him.

Mostly because it implied that the boy knew damn well some people wouldn't take the idea laying down, and that he highly suspected that Tsuna would let him join in on the fun of forcing them to submit, if he were still around.

"I don't know whether to be terrified of what will happen to our family, or glad I won't be around to see it," said G flatly.

Tsuna beamed at him, causing the older Storm to stumble a bit. Daemon snickered.

"How do you think I feel? If regular mafia paperwork is bad I don't even _want_ to think of what I'll have to deal with if he actually DOES take over the world," complained Hayato.

"I have never been more happy to be the Left hand in my life," said Takeshi honestly.

That got Tsuna to laugh outright.

"Don't think you're getting out of it, Takeshi. I'm fully planning to make you my go-between with the Varia," said Tsuna.

"So... basically I get to play with Squalo again?"

"Yup."

Takeshi's grin was positively bloodthirsty. Then again there was a _reason_ why Tsuna had immediately decided to make the Rain his go-to for anything that had to do with the Varia and it had little to do with the fact Takeshi had a lot of fun playing with Squalo during the Rain battle.

That wasn't to say he didn't like the Varia... Xanxus' was rather amusing in his own way, in between the swearing and the glass throwing, but this meant he had to deal with less paperwork.

Tsuna was many things, but he was not an idiot. One look at the piles that dominated Giotto's desk and the way the man kept trying to put it off had given him all the incentive he would ever need to find a way to delegate that crap to the others.

He was going to make sorting out the necessary things he had to deal with a damn punishment if he had any say about it!

"So have you got your music selection picked?" asked G.

"Ahaha... we're going to do what we always do. Follow Tsuna's lead and let him dictate what we play. It's a lot easier."

Daemon frowned.

"That doesn't sound very fun at all."

"You would think that, but it's actually pretty good. Tsuna might dictate the pace, but he sometimes starts playing in the background to let one of the less experienced players like Ryohei or Mukuro take the lead. He's sort of like a conductor that happens to be part of the group," said Hayato.

Daemon seemed to accept that explanation, odd as it was. The idea that Tsuna might have skills towards conducting as well as playing wasn't too far fetched in the least... the boy had an ear for music.

"Nufufufu... if you are as good as you were merely practicing, then I can't wait to hear you three playing for real," said Daemon.

"I still say he _has_ to be related to Mukuro. No way in hell that laugh isn't inherited somehow," said Hayato, eyeing the Mist.

"He probably _is_. We already know Takeshi is Asari's many-times grandson... who's to say you aren't related to G in some way yourself?" countered Tsuna.

"Point," admitted Hayato.

"Come on brats. If you're going to be up on stage performing you're going to need to look the part, and that means shopping," said G.

Daemon had elected to take the boy's to the shops to get fitted and dressed, since he knew where the best shops were...and had the money for it.

Tsuna looked horrified. He wasn't used to wearing formal attire _at all_. The closest he came to was his summer yukata, which was slightly worn because he hadn't really grown much.

At most he just wore a vest and a tie if he wanted to do formal.

Daemon though... Daemon was _terrifying_.

Hayato handled the whole thing like a pro, because he had been through similar nonsense growing up. And Takeshi was just as calm as ever...though Tsuna did detect a tell tale twitch in his eye.

"You are evil," said Tsuna honestly.

Daemon was still smiling.

"Why thank you," he said grinning. "Nufufufu... who would have known you'd be this skittish just getting a suit made?"

Hayato snickered.

"The most I've ever seen Tsuna do to get dressed up is wear a vest while playing," said Hayato.

"Well that won't do. If you're planning world domination you should look good while doing it," said Daemon seriously.

"Who's to say what a world leader should and shouldn't wear? If you're at the top then shouldn't you be the one setting the fashion trends?" countered Tsuna.

Hayato and Takeshi watched on with a little amount of horror as Tsuna and Daemon seriously debated world domination and how a leader should act. Daemon was having way too much fun with the discussion, while Tsuna just liked being able to debate without holding back.

"I am so not filling out his paperwork. Right hand or not, I am not stupid," said Hayato flatly. Takeshi nodded.

"I can't wait to see Hibari or Mukuro forced to do that as punishment for getting out of hand."

Hayato snickered in agreement.

* * *

 _A few days later..._

"I don't believe it," said Tsuna, looking in the mirror.

"You know if you dyed your hair black with black contacts in you eyes and wore the fedora you might pass for an older Reborn," said Takeshi joking.

"...Nah, I don't have his crazy sideburns," laughed Tsuna.

"You guys done in there?" asked Hayato. "Wow... major difference."

"Well it's not like we've ever had to play as serious musicians before," said Tsuna nervously.

Hayato lightly bopped him on the head.

"Relax. It's not really that different from us practicing at school. We're right here with you, so odds are we could cover for you... or more likely for Takeshi."

"Gee, thanks," snarked Takeshi. That had them staring at him for a moment. "Sorry... I guess I'm a bit homesick. I'm surprised you're handling this so well, Tsuna."

Tsuna winced.

"I'm not exactly _fond_ of Namimori. That, and Reborn's been seriously talking of sending me to Vienna or one of the bigger music schools in Japan for high school. Naturally that would include all of you, though I think I might try for Seisou Academy."

"...Isn't that the school that's supposedly blessed by fairies?" asked Takeshi.

"Yeah," said Tsuna.

"Did I hear that right? You have a school that's blessed by faeries in Japan?" asked Giotto.

"A music school. Supposedly the founder ran into a music fairy who was injured, and when he helped the fairy back to health all he asked for was that the fairy bless his future school. They say if you can see the fairy then you'll be blessed as well...though there's also a rumor that the fairy can start up a music competition."

Giotto hummed.

"You know we have faeries in Italy right? In fact I'm pretty sure there's a faerie glen nearby, though G won't let me look for it."

Tsuna snorted.

"That's because you'd use it as an excuse to get out of paperwork."

"Well we have a few hours before we need you three to play, so why not look for it? At the very least it should help calm your nerves a little," suggested Giotto cheerfully.

Tsuna perked up at the idea. That sounded like more fun than worrying over their music selection or being bothered by people they wouldn't see later anyway.

"Besides... Alaude's been getting rather antsy and he hates these things, so it'll keep him from going after me until after," said Giotto.

"He still mad about the hair?"

"Not enough to disrupt the ball, though he did dump three times the normal amount of work on my desk," said Giotto, anime tears falling down his face. "While it was hilarious, I kind of wish I had something to memorialize it."

Tsuna grinned evilly.

"Allow me to introduce something that hasn't been invented yet. It's called a camera..." said Tsuna evilly.

Giotto blinked, took one look at the green-haired Alaude before he started cackling. Like an idiot.

"So basically he's never living it down in the future?"

"Nope," said Tsuna cheerfully.

"Best. Descendant. Ever."

"The same goes for you with pink hair you know."

"Totally worth it! You have the others?" asked Giotto eagerly.

He was cackling at the sight of the other Guardians with different hair colors, and was thrilled to know that they'd never be able to get rid of the evidence. Ever.


	21. Chapter 21

"Where exactly are these faeries supposed to be again?"

Alaude said nothing. He was only going along with it because Giotto had put this in the boy's heads, and he would be _annoyed_ if they got lost trying to find their way back.

Tsuna huffed, rather tired. He sat down and pulled out a metal canteen he had bought early on before Daemon busted him.

"If we don't leave now we won't have time to do a practice run," said Hayato, looking up at the sky.

"Or we could practice for a few minutes here, and get ready once we're back," said Tsuna. He was not getting up for a few minutes. Instead he pulled out his violin and bow and inspected it for a moment.

He didn't see the two tiny faces peaking out of the trees, where the sunlight reached.

At least not until they suddenly came right up into his face when he finished the short song.

" _That was awesome!"_

" _Can you play again?"_

"Hie!" yelped Tsuna, almost falling over. Takeshi was quick to keep him from crashing on the ground.

"What happened?" asked Hayato.

"I think I found the faeries," said Tsuna dryly, eyes wide.

There were two glowing spots right next to Tsuna. It took the others a few seconds to register that there were tiny figures in the light.

The 'female' fairy looked positively thrilled Tsuna was able to see them, when they weren't trying to be seen. The 'male' looked more amused that he had startled Tsuna at all.

"Holy... UMA's!" said Hayato with eyes wide with enthusiasm.

"How can they be unidentified if we know what they are?" asked Tsuna. Takeshi helped him up while Alaude was too busy trying not to swear.

If Giotto knew that there actually _were_ faeries nearby he'd never get his paperwork done!

"So what are your names? I'm Tsuna and these are my friends Takeshi and Hayato... and this is Alaude."

The female giggled.

" _I'm Remi!"_

" _I'm Tido!"_ said the other faerie.

The two zoomed around like they were kids on a sugar high...which wasn't that far off. They were definitely "child-like".

" _We're Fata, music faeries,"_ said Remi.

" _You're the first human who's been able to see us when we're still glamoured!"_ said Tido excitedly.

" _Only people who are naturally in tune with faeries can see us~!"_ said Remi with equal enthusiasm.

"We're going to be late, if we stay any longer," said Alaude.

Tsuna looked at the excited faces, before he grinned.

"If I agree to keep my silence that there _are_ faeries here, can they come with us?" asked Tsuna.

Alaude narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"Deal. This never reaches Giotto...but if you two happen to play a few minor pranks that don't disturb the ball on a man who looks like an older version of Tsuna, I'll ignore it."

Hearing the mischievous giggling of the twin faeries, Tsuna snickered. He almost felt sorry for Giotto. Almost.

* * *

 _Later that night..._

Remi and Tido stuck rather close to Tsuna, though they did play minor pranks on Giotto, like adding pepper or salt to his drinks and food. Alaude had a bit of a smug smirk about the whole thing...one Daemon quickly copied when he caught the two playing tricks on Giotto.

"Does he know?"

"Tsuna convinced me to let them come, in exchange for his silence. With any luck they'll go with him and Giotto will never find out," said Alaude flatly.

Daemon chuckled...he could see what Alaude had in mind. He didn't want Giotto skipping out on paperwork to go faerie hunting.

And if he happened to slip the faeries some rather disgusting things to put in Giotto's drink...well, no one said Daemon wasn't above a few minor pranks on his soon-to-be-former Sky.

While he knew Tsuna would soon have to return home to his own time, Daemon had felt his Flames shift away completely from Giotto and start to head towards the younger future Sky. That Tsuna didn't balk at the idea made him rather pleased.

The boy was an honest delight, even if he sometimes painfully reminded Daemon of his beloved Elena.

The entire ball was a success.

Remi and Tido were very disappointed that Tsuna would be leaving within the month. They had fallen in love with his music, and as one of the rare humans who could see them at any time, they didn't want to let him go so easily.

As it turned out, Mists were naturally in tune with the faerie realms... especially those like Daemon who had a higher than normal affinity for them.

Daemon unashamedly abused this fact to find other faeries and slowly drive Giotto and his fellow Guardians up the wall with minor pranks.

Tsuna almost wished he could have met the twin's older brother Lili, who was currently away under an apprenticeship with an older, more experienced Fata.

* * *

"You sure you have everything?" asked Giotto nervously.

The trio of pink bombs had arrived that morning, nearly braining G who had fallen asleep at the desk and sent the Storm into a swearing fit worthy of any sailor.

Tsuna nodded.

"I love Mist bindings," said Tsuna grinning.

"I wish Daemon knew how to make them. I still can't believe you stole my Mist from me," complained Giotto with good nature.

"He's still your Mist until you find a replacement," said Tsuna.

Giotto pouted anyway.

"I'm going to miss you."

"You're going to miss your excuse to skip out on paperwork, and the fact I make it less boring," countered Tsuna.

"That too," admitted Giotto. "Though I wish I knew how the hell Daemon keeps getting me with pranks."

Tsuna's grin was evil.

"Well... I did agree to keep my silence for the ball, and it's not like Alaude can come after me for saying something when I'm about to leave anyway..."

Giotto leaned in eagerly, sensing mischief.

"Daemon's been bribing the faerie folk in the woods to help with his pranks. He gives them the supplies and ideas, and they pull it off while watching the chaos. If you're lucky they might take to your Sky and help you prank the others."

The grin on Giotto's face was positively evil, and it sent shivers down the spine of G and Alaude. Something horrifying had just happened.

"Ready, boss?" asked Hayato.

They were outside, their things stashed into Mist bindings...which Tsuna had officially given up trying and just called it "hammer space" because it was less likely to piss off the Vindice by exposing Flames by accident... and all of the Primo's generation were there to see them off.

Tsuna knew Daemon had _something_ in mind, because he was related to Mukuro and that meant there was a high probability that the Mist would figure out how to possess others and stick around until he found Tsuna again.

A terrifyingly _high_ probability, considering how tenacious Daemon was when it came to his Sky.

So the trio made sure to give their proper good byes, and then tossed the pink bombs onto their feet, activating them.

At the worst, they'd end up ten years where they were and be stuck. At best it would cancel out whatever malfunction caused Tsuna to be stuck in the wrong time period in the first place.

He honestly had no idea that the twin faeries had managed to sneak themselves into his violin until he went to take it out and play later...or the panic they caused their older brother when he came home to find them _missing_ after following someone to "Japan".

In a bit of irony it was this act that caused Lili to end up befriending a young man who wanted to make a music school in the first place...

* * *

"I'm really beginning to _hate_ time travel."

"Like we don't?" coughed Hayato.

Takeshi was silent, though at least his homesickness had abated for a while. They _were_ technically in Namimori again.

The good news, they were in the _right_ time period, more or less, and in Namimori. Even if it was just shy of ten years ahead of their actual "present".

The bad news, Shōichi's friend Byakuran had apparently gone insane from boredom, they were officially stuck in the wrong time _again,_ and let's not forget one very important fact... THEY WERE IN THE WRONG ALTERNATE TIMELINE!

At least this time Tsuna wasn't entirely alone.

"Any idea where the hell we're supposed to go?" asked Hayato crossly.

"Not a clue, but at least our currency is good again," said Takeshi with a smile.

"... I don't know about you, but I really don't want to get caught up in whatever idiocy Byakuran has in mind. Who's up for doing a bit of traveling?"

"You want to visit that music academy, don't you?" accused Hayato.

"Don't you? It's not like this has anything to do with us," said Tsuna.

They had more or less chucked their Vongola rings (and the ring Lancia had given Tsuna as a thank you for forcibly converting Mukuro into a better person) into their hammer space to avoid having to deal with the headache.

Mostly to avoid the possibility of _accidentally_ losing said rings, which were part of the Tri-Ni-Set.

Considering the difficulty of dodging the Millifiore thugs, Tsuna decided to take them to the one place he knew better than they did.

Old Man Kawahira's shop.

"This place still gives me the creeps," said Takeshi flatly.

"Well it's one of the few places they won't be looking," countered Tsuna. He took one look at the old man reading the paper, eating his usual bowl of ramen, before he waved.

"Hey Kawahira-jii-san," he said flippantly.

He had to grin when the old geezer choked on his ramen, and actually looked at them.

"What the hell?" he said in surprise. Why was Tsuna and his two Hands in his shop?

"I have blackmail photos of the Primo's generation save for Daemon Spade, in exchange for a hiding place until whatever is keeping us stuck here wears off," said Tsuna flatly.

Kawahira stared at him oddly.

"Not good enough brat. Why should I stick my neck out for you?"

Tsuna's face went completely blank.

"Do you really want me to tell the Vindice where you are?" he asked bluntly. "Because it didn't take much for me to guess why you kept giving Reborn such weird looks when I dragged him here before in my alternate timeline and I'm sure they'd _love_ to have a long thorough chat with you. Which means your supply of ramen would be cut off, since I have no doubt they'd scour Japan for you."

Tsuna said this with a perfectly flat expression, his arms crossed and not giving an inch. He had faced down the Vindice and hadn't blinked... whatever the hell Kawahira was couldn't possibly scare him after meeting them.

Kawahira stared Tsuna down, before he sighed and finished the last of his ramen.

"I demand copies of those photos and the agreement you'll keep your mouth shut," he said bluntly.

"Deal. Where's your printer? And I don't mean that outdated piece of crap you have on the shelf twelve feet behind me," said Tsuna.

Which only solidified his claim that he had been here before, and often, if he knew where that thing was.

"How the hell did you pull that off?" asked Hayato later, as he settled in the spare bedroom.

"Old man Kawahira kept giving Reborn and his pacifier weird looks, and considering the amount of crap he has around the store and the lost sheet music it hadn't taken much to guess he's the Arcobaleno Administrator. And the last time I saw the Vindice, they had something that looked a hell of a lot like those cursed pacifiers hiding under those bandages. Ergo, they are former Arcobaleno," said Tsuna.

"Which means they'd want to have a...word...with the old man," said Hayato, realizing what Tsuna had figured out by accident.

"If he can hide from the Vindice, then odds are he'd have a place for us to hide as well. At least till we figure out what to do about this mess. Too bad Remi and Tido are still in Italy, because they might be able to find Daemon, if he's still around."

"Which he probably is," said Hayato tiredly.

"Want me to play something to put us to sleep?" asked Tsuna.

"Ahaha, you really can't go a day without playing can you?" laughed Takeshi.

" _Finally!"_

All three of them froze.

"Remi? Tido?" said Tsuna slowly. The twin faeries flew out of the violin and started buzzing around.

"Oh god... why am I not surprised..." said Hayato, face-palming.

"Look at the bright side... at least I don't ditch my paperwork to the last minute like Giotto did," said Tsuna.

"Thank god for that," said Hayato grumbling.

Seeing the two Fata Faeries, Tsuna had an evil idea.

"Say, Remi... Tido... how would you like to see if Daemon is still around for some proper mischief?" asked Tsuna.

The twin evil grins on their faces did not bode well for Byakuran's plans to take over the world.

Or Reborn's sanity when he found out where "Tsuna" disappeared too, along with both his Hands.


	22. Chapter 22

**Just a reminder that I do have a go fund me page. Just add _tsukis-vet-visit_ after the .com part. It's alright if you can't donate today...sharing helps as well!**

 **Also, would any of you be offended if I made this a minor crossover with La Cordo de Oro?**

* * *

Daemon looked at the younger Decimo and his two Hands, then at the faeries.

"How the hell did you find me? And how did you know I was still alive?" asked Daemon finally.

"The same way I have blackmail photos of Giotto and the others...save for you... and how I know the reason you were so pissed at Giotto is because Elena died and he disbanded the Vongola's unofficial army without even listening to you," said Tsuna. "I hate time travel."

Daemon stared at him, at least until Tsuna handed his phone.

"It's the file labeled 'Vongola Blackmail'," he said helpfully.

Daemon humored the tiny Decimo, and flicked through the pictures. His face went flat from shock, before he started to shake from repressed laughter.

"Oh god... that is... There are no words to describe this!" he cackled.

"Want to help me spread chaos and anarchy in the name of annoying the hell out of Byakuran and ruining his entire plan of world domination?" asked Tsuna hopefully.

Daemon was positively giddy at the idea.

"Considering that little shit is planning to take out the Vongola permanently to complete his plan, absolutely. Just one thing..."

"Give me your phone number, or help me find a working printer that I can hook my phone up to, and I'll give you copies of the photos. I bet Alaude and G were pissed as hell when I told Giotto where to find the faeries to help him ditch his paperwork. I remember you kept slipping them foul ingredients to put in their morning coffee," said Tsuna helpfully.

Daemon's grin was evil.

"How did you know I was still alive anyway?"

"You're related to Mukuro. If he can pull that possession crap, even if he was using those stupid bullets to do it originally, then odds are you have the same ability and have been abusing it to stay alive."

Daemon cackled. He liked this kid more than his older counterpart.

"Besides, if anyone could keep us hidden from Byakuran _and_ whatever resistance the Vongola and Varia cooked up, obviously it would be you," concluded Tsuna.

* * *

Reborn was not in a happy mood. They had confirmed that Tsuna, Takeshi and Hayato were in the future...but that was _it_. Somehow the trio had managed to fall entirely off the radar.

They weren't captured, because the enemy faction had yet to gloat about having Tsuna (which they would), and nothing Kyouya could find indicated _where_ they were.

The fact they managed to hide from both sides was both impressive and very worrying.

And then things started falling apart... for the Millifiore.

Yuni had been removed from wherever Byakuran had been stashing her until now, which coincidentally caused a major rift between the "white" and "black" factions and untold chaos. The fake Funeral Wreaths were dealt with in quick succession, save for Shōichi who was still in Namimori at the time, and the Varia were downright _confused_ on the quartet who did most of the disposal.

Their leader could _barely_ hit the broadside of a barn with a hand gun (Squalo's words), but it was his actual weapon that had baffled the Varia Elite the most.

Seeing a _Sky_ (because there was no way you could mistake those Flames for anything else) fight using a violin and random music selection had really thrown the assassins for a loop.

There was also the not-so-tiny detail of _Mukuro_ being released to Vongola's custody less than an hour after that fight, with no idea who exactly had paid for his freedom. Or if he did, he certainly wasn't telling in between his maniacal laughter about something he clearly found downright hilarious.

It wasn't until Ryohei, the last of the Tenth Generation Guardians showed up, that they finally had a solid lead on Tsuna, Hayato and Takeshi.

Though Reborn had to ask what the _hell_ they were doing in Vienna of all places, near the world famous music school. Or where Tsuna and Takeshi learned to speak fluent Italian.

* * *

Daemon was cackling alongside a very amused Mukuro (and wasn't that a match made in hell...Tsuna was glad he would be gone by the time those two started plotting) when Reborn found out the truth.

Byakuran was so put out when he figured out what happened.

"This is so unfair! How did I end up stuck with the _one_ version of the Vongola Decimo that has plans of his own for world domination!" complained Byakuran.

Tsuna cracked up, hearing that.

"How is it my fault that those stupid pink bombs sent us to this time line instead of the correct one, you marshmallow-addicted idiot?" grinned Tsuna. Byakuran pouted.

"I'm confused," said Shōichi.

Tsuna grinned at him openly.

"Well Shōichi, the simple fact of the matter is we somehow ended up in the wrong alternate timeline. Since I have my own plans that _almost_ come close to world domination and I wanted to annoy Byakuran for causing this mess, I opted to work as a third party rather than get dragged into Reborn's insane idea of 'saving everyone'. It just so happened I had something that would get a certain Mist who's related to Mukuro and is also talented at possessing people to work with me."

Daemon leered at them all, while Mukuro cackled in the background. Especially after learning _what_ Tsuna had "paid" the Vindice for his freedom.

Hearing someone else's day was about to get infinitely worse just to free him and _happened_ to be heavily entrenched in the mafia had made Mukuro adore this Tsuna almost as much as Daemon did once he had those blackmail pictures of the Primo's Guardians...and Giotto's bitchface at the sheer amount of paperwork Alaude dumped on him.

He almost forgot how hilarious that face was.

Tsuna made a face.

"Besides, the sooner I fixed this mess my way, the sooner we can finally go home to our _proper_ timeline and continue to give my Reborn migraines by corrupting people with music. He still hasn't forgiven me for converting Xanxus...which really begs the question of how annoyed he's going to be when I call Daemon back from wherever he's hiding in my timeline," said Tsuna.

Byakuran was still pouting.

Reborn was distinctly annoyed with this Tsuna.

"How exactly did you avoid being found?" he demanded.

"Blame Hammer space," said the trio in unison. Daemon cackled even more at the looks they were getting.

"More specifically blame the fact Mukuro figured out how to make Mist bindings and then showed us how to manipulate them into holding damn near anything...including the Vongola rings," said Hayato.

"That and the fact Tsuna wasn't the least bit afraid to get on the Arcobaleno Administrator's bad side by blackmailing him into hiding us until we found out where Daemon was hiding," said Takeshi.

"Or that I got along terrifyingly well with said Mist Guardian in the Primo's time, so I knew how to convert him into helping us spread chaos and hide us from sight. By the way Belphegor, your dead twin brother was a complete ass. I'd rather deal with your eccentricities than listen to him prattle on again," said Tsuna flatly.

The Varia Storm Officer blinked, before he started snickering in his own way.

"Shishishi... Rasiel always was an idiot~" said Belphegor happily.

"Yes, yes he was. He didn't even see that anti-tank bullet coming until after his brains were splattered all over his butler," said Tsuna darkly.

Belphegor cackled even more.

"So that was your doing! Shishishi... That was hilarious!"

Tsuna beamed at him.

"So can we end this nonsense? I really want to go home and sleep off this time travel crap for a week," said Tsuna. He then eyed the albino Sky with an annoyed expression. "And Byakuran, if you even _think_ of trying something I swear to god I will use my harmony factor against you before tanning that pale ass of yours red for making my life harder than it needs to be. I know how to subvert people's Flames against them so that they become useless and I will not hesitate to use that against you."

"You're no fun at all."

"And you need to cut down on the damn marshmallows before you become diabetic," Tsuna shot back without an iota of sympathy.

He was just glad this headache was over with, because when he registered the familiar bonds of his Guardians other than Hayato and Takeshi, he knew he was home.

He was still going to sleep for a week after this.

* * *

Reborn stared at the Primo's Mist Guardian with some shock...and no little annoyance.

"Tsuna... what the hell is _he_ doing here?" demanded Reborn.

"Oh, hey Daemon. How did you find me so fast?"

"Nufufufu... you forget, little Tsuna, I partially harmonized with you during your visit to the past. And it wasn't _that_ hard to figure out how to possess people when my body started failing. Speaking of..."

"Wait until we convince Verde to make a clone of Mukuro or something and possess that. That should bring you back up to full power enough for us to properly harmonize," said Tsuna without hesitation. "Which reminds me, where are Remi and Tido?"

"Off bothering your other Guardians. I believe they were planning to bug your Cloud first."

"Not my problem."

Tsuna promptly buried his face back into his pillow. He hated time travel. It was such a headache.

"Tsuna... explain, now."

Tsuna openly glared at Reborn for that. Then he twitched his wrist, causing a ton of things to fall out on top of the Sun. The Arcobaleno was practically buried in the junk he picked up from the Primo's time.

" _Tsuna_..." growled Reborn.

"You want to know what happened? I _hate_ time travel! First that stupid thing malfunctioned and sent me to the Primo's time... I got plenty of blackmail and three new converts out of that deal by the way... and then when we set off those stupid things again we ended up in an alternate timeline where Shōichi's Sky Byakuran had killed almost all the Arcobaleno and was trying to take out the Vongola so he could control the world through the Tri-Ni-Set!" said Tsuna irate. His grin suddenly turned vicious. "Of course Byakuran didn't expect me to enlist the help of Daemon's alternate self long enough to throw my own wrench into the plans in exchange for blackmail and being able to scare the living hell out of my alternate future self with the idea of _two_ Mukuro being on the loose."

"...Blackmail. Now. Before I use you as target practice."

Tsuna handed over his phone. He already had all the information copied onto a spare micro SD card just in case.

Reborn's face went from black to positively _evil_.

"I take back anything bad I ever said about you, and fully replace it with 'I am so glad you are my student'."

The face Giotto made as Alaude brought in the paperwork was hilarious.

"How the hell did you think I converted a Mist far too much like Mukuro to my side in the first place?" deadpanned Tsuna.

"Considering _he's_ the reason the Primo forcibly retired and was also the Mist of the Secundo..."

Tsuna turned to level a glare at Daemon.

"What."

"Giotto didn't seem to mind when I pointed out one simple fact to him stepping down for Ricardo and gave his blessings," said Daemon.

"...No more hellish paperwork and a Mist all too happy to cause chaos, thus creating even MORE of it?" asked Tsuna.

Daemon whistled innocently.

Reborn stared at him. Then at Tsuna.

"Why are you not complaining about that?"

"I fully intend to inflict his brand of chaos on the Ninth and CEDEF, only for it to suddenly stop the second I become Decimo. Which won't happen until I graduate high school if I have any say about it. And unlike Giotto I know better than to put off paperwork until last minute from having to help Kyouya with his all the time," said Tsuna flatly. He eyed Reborn oddly. "Are you crying?"

"Why couldn't stupid Dino have been this much fun?"

It took Tsuna a few seconds to realize he just gave Reborn all the reason he would ever need to harmonize with him.

Meh, not his problem until he decided to quit being lazy.

So...about three more days.

Daemon snickered in his devious way at the fact Tsuna had basically given him carte blanche to make the Ninth generation and his so-called father's life a living hell via paperwork and pranks.

"Mind if I borrow Remi and Tido?"

"Only for short periods. I want to make sure they're alright after time traveling twice."


End file.
